Background: Basal meningoceles are rare congenital defects and often clinically occult until they result in life-threatening complications. Therefore, it is important to know the diagnostic clues to early diagnosis.
Case presentation: We describe three cases of congenital basal meningocele in a 3-year-old Japanese boy, a 1-month-old Japanese baby boy, and a 10-month-old Japanese baby girl. One of our patients died of sepsis due to traumatic rupture of the meningocele during nasal suction. His meningocele remained undiagnosed until it resulted in the fatal complication. The other patients underwent surgical repair without any complications. Their meningoceles were complicated by midfacial anomalies including cleft palate and hypertelorism, or a sign of nasal obstruction such as snoring.
Conclusions: These clinical features may be a clue to the early diagnosis of congenital basal meningocele, which enables its safe preoperative management and provides an opportunity for surgical repair before the condition results in serious complications.
Keywords: Basal meningocele; Meningitis; Midfacial anomalies; Snore; Suction.