A Brief Review of Giant Occipital Encephalocele

An encephalocele is a congenital neural tube defect (NTD) characterized by herniation/protrusion of the intracranial contents (meninges, brain, and part of the ventricles) through a defect in the cranium.[1] Encephalocele is caused by failure of the closure of the cranial part of the developing neural tube during the first few weeks of fetal life. An encephalocele is termed as "giant encephalocele" when the size of encephalocele is larger than the size of the head.[2] Giant encephalocele is also termed as "massive encephalocele" and "large encephalocele."[3] Giant encephaloceles are most frequently observed at occipital region.[2] [3] Giant occipital encephalocele is a rare entity, and mostly reported as case reports.[4] [5] The internet search revealed two series published on giant occipital encephaloceles.[3] [6] Mahapatra published a series of 14 cases of giant encephaloceles, which included thirteen cases of giant occipital encephaloceles, and one case of anterior encephalocele.[3] Ozdemir et al. recently published a series of four neonates who underwent surgical repair of giant occipital encephaloceles.[6]