Late Infection of Cranioplasty Presenting with Extradural Abscess Thirty Years After Surgery: a Case Report

Delayed infection of cranioplasty is a rare complication which usually occurs 3 to 10 months after surgery. It causes subgaleal, extradural, and/or subdural abscess, with accompanied local signs of infection. Typically, systemic manifestations are absent and laboratory tests are negative. We describe a case of late infection of the cranioplasty occurring 30 years after surgery, which has never been reported before in the scientific literature. Thus, in the appropriate clinical scenario, it is important to consider this entity among the differential diagnosis even decades after cranioplasty. Late infection of cranioplasty is a rare complication which can happen even decades after surgery. To our knowledge, this is the first case reported of a late infection occurring 30 years after surgery.