CSF rhinorrhea after nasopharyngeal swab testing for COVID-19: A case report and review of literature

Mohammad Samadian; Seyed Farzad Maroufi; Morteza Sanei Taheri; Armin Jafari

doi:10.1016/j.xocr.2021.100370

CSF rhinorrhea after nasopharyngeal swab testing for COVID-19: A case report and review of literature

Otolaryngol Case Rep. 2021 Nov:21:100370. doi: 10.1016/j.xocr.2021.100370. Epub 2021 Oct 9.

Authors

Mohammad Samadian^{1

2}, Seyed Farzad Maroufi^{1

3}, Morteza Sanei Taheri⁴, Armin Jafari¹

Affiliations

¹ Skull Base Research Center, Loghman Hakim Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
² Department of Neurosurgery, Loghman Hakim Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
³ Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁴ Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Background: There are more than 206 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 infection globally. Nasopharyngeal swab testing is one of the widely used diagnostic methods for the initial diagnosis of such cases. With the growing diagnostic testing capacity, it is expected to observe an increased number of adverse events due to nasopharyngeal testing.

Clinical presentation: A middle-aged woman presented with unilateral rhinorrhea, started after nasopharyngeal swab test for Covid-19. She had no prior medical issues. Thorough examination and imaging showed the presence of cerebrospinal fluid leakage.

Conclusion: Nasopharyngeal swab testing may lead to serious complications and taking a brief history might be helpful. Also, patients should be educated on different complications of nasopharyngeal swab testing and their associated symptoms.

Keywords: COVID-19; CSF Rhinorrhea; Nasopharyngeal swab.

Publication types

Case Reports