Such headaches are mostly orthostatic, and the latency of headache onset or resolution from a change in posture commonly varies with chronicity. Headache is the most common clinical symptom experienced by patients with CSF leakage, but occasionally headache may be completely absent. 2 The causes of spontaneous CSF leakage include a preexisting dural sac weakness frequently associated with meningeal diverticula, a trivial trauma in the setting of preexisting dural weakness, and spondylotic spurs or herniated discs, while in some cases the cause is completely unknown. The causes of traumatic CSF leakage include motor vehicle collisions, sports injuries, falls, brachial plexus avulsion injuries, and nerve root avulsions. The etiologies of CSF volume depletion include a true hypovolemic state, traumatic CSF leakage, iatrogenic CSF leakage, and spontaneous CSF leakage.

1 Patients with CSF volume depletion present with various symptoms, including orthostatic headache, neck pain, dizziness/vertigo, visual disturbance, tinnitus, nausea, numbness, back pain/lumbago, fatigability, and memory disturbance. Females are affected more commonly than males, peaking at around 40 years of age. The annual incidence of spontaneous spinal CSF leakage has been estimated at 5 per 10,000, 1 while that of other types of CSF volume depletion is unknown. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volume depletion is a disorder mainly caused by the leakage of spinal CSF.

Cerebrospinal fluid leak prognosis