ArticleClinical practice and cases in emergency medicine2021
Case Report: An Intracranial Complication of COVID-19 Nasopharyngeal Swab.
Article in Clinical practice and cases in emergency medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Traumatic CSF rhinorrhea associated with COVID-19 testing: a case series and systematic review.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2025Pooled it
- A case report and literature review: Cerebral spinal fluid leak after COVID nasopharyngeal swab testing.SAGE open medical case reports · 2026Article
- Nasopharyngeal swab for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection complicated by severe pneumococcal meningitis.IDCases · 2025Article
- COVID-19 nasopharyngeal swab and cribriform fracture.Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England · 2023Article
- Cerebrospinal fluid fistula as a complication of reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction collection for the detection of coronavirus disease 2019: illustrative cases.Journal of neurosurgery. Case lessons · 2023Article
- Spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhoea during pregnancy-case report and review of literature.Case reports in perinatal medicine · 2023Article
- Sinonasal Lobular Capillary Hemangioma After Continuous Self-tests for COVID-19: A Case Report and Review of the Literature.Medeniyet medical journal · 2022Article
- Complications of Nasopharyngeal Swabs and Safe Procedures for COVID-19 Testing Based on Anatomical Knowledge.Journal of Korean medical science · 2022Review
- Measuring the Possibility of Middle Ear Discharge for COVID-19 Test Material.Interdisciplinary perspectives on infectious diseases · 2022Review
- Cerebrospinal fluid leak postnasopharyngeal swab for SARS-CoV-2 testing: A case report.Surgical neurology international · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionCerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks are often the result of trauma or recent surgical procedures; however, a subset can develop from non-traumatic etiologies. Cerebrospinal fluid leaks from congenital and spontaneous encephaloceles can be clinically occult and have devastating consequences if undetected for prolonged periods of time. This report highlights a unique case of meningitis after CSF leak caused by ruptured congenital meningocele during a routine nasopharyngeal swab. CASE REPORT: A 54-year-old female with diagnosed CSF leak presented to the emergency department (ED) with acute onset of severe headache, and neck and back pain. Prior to this presentation, the patient had experienced two months of persistent headache and rhinorrhea since her coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) nasopharyngeal swab. As part of her outpatient workup, an otolaryngology consultation with subsequent beta-2 transferrin testing and magnetic resonance imaging was performed and she was diagnosed with a CSF leak from ruptured congenital meningocele. On ED presentation, she was afebrile, but with mild tachycardia, leukocytosis, and meningismus. Lumbar puncture revealed acute streptococcal meningitis. This patient's meningitis developed due to prolonged occult CSF leak after her COVID-19 nasopharyngeal swab ruptured a pre-existing congenital meningocele.
conclusionNasopharyngeal swabs are being performed much more frequently due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All front-line providers should be aware of the potential presence and rupture of congenital meningoceles in patients who have undergone recent nasopharyngeal swab when risk-stratifying for potential CSF leak and meningitis.
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Registered trials
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