Occipital sinus pericranii: About an unusual situation and review of the literature

The sinus pericranii refers to a set of clinical presentations that share a pathological communication between the scalp veins and the underlying cranial venous sinus. The nature of this connection ranges from the simple dilatation of the emissary veins, to wide connections through a calvarial bone loss leaving almost the cranial venous sinus in direct contact with the subcutaneous tissue. The authors present the case of an occipital pericranii sinus of intraoperative discovery. Congenital, post-traumatic or spontaneous, this anomaly is most often frontal and located on or close to the midline. The usual clinical presentation is that of a soft mass that empties to the pressure while standing, while it fills in all situations that increase the intracranial pressure (Valsalva maneuver …). The diagnosis is not always easy to establish, and relies on a bundle of clinical and radiological arguments. Through a review of the literature we propose to focus on the clinical features, diagnostic means and therapeutic options of this rare entity.