[Chronic nasal obstruction: ethmoidal encephalocele in an adult patient].

Nasal obstruction is a frequent cause of referral to the ear, nose and throat specialist. When this symptom is resistant to medical management and common causes have been ruled out, the presence of neural structures should be investigated In the nasoethmoidal meningoencephalocele, a congenital defect of the ethmoid lamina cribrosa allows the herniation of the intracranial contents into the nasal fossa. The key to clinical diagnosis is the presence of nasal obstruction with rhinorrhea and recurrent meningitis. We describe the case of a 33-year old female who was long treated for nasal polyposis and underwent a successful surgical treatment of ethmoidal meningoencephalocele.