Safety of commercial airflight in patients with craniofacial diseases

Abstract

The potential risk of pressure changes during commercial air travel causing the expansion of trappedintracranial air in post-operative patients is known. Current studies reveal that it is safe for patientswith space-occupying brain lesions to fly various distances. Nevertheless, in patients with pre-flightsymptoms thought to be due to mass effect or cerebral oedema, the administration of dexamethasone andanticonvulsants may help minimize the risk of further brain swelling and possible seizures during air flight.Besides other oral manifestations of barometric pressure changes, such as barodontalgia, cliniciansshould be familiar with this entity, take preventive measures, and periodically examine patients who flyplanes. Clinicians should also search for occult pathologies such as leaking restorations or secondarycaries lesions. Nevertheless, pneumocephalus is not a contraindication to early post-operative flying. Moresignificant, prospective, multi-institutional studies will be necessary to validate these recent results.