World Neurosurg
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Case Reports
From craniofacial resection to endonasal endoscopic removal of malignant tumors of the anterior skull base.
To review the current literature and provide our institutional approach and opinion on the indications and limitations of traditional open craniofacial resection (CFR) and a minimally invasive pure endonasal endoscopic approach for anterior skull base tumors concentrating primarily on malignant lesions. ⋯ Both traditional CFR and the endonasal endoscopic approach offer advantages and disadvantages. Both approaches can achieve good results with appropriate patient selection. Numerous important factors, including location and the extent of tumor, should be taken into consideration when considering either approach. The most important determinant of outcome is the ability to achieve gross total resection with microscopic negative margins rather than the type of approach used. In the future, skull base surgeons will need to be familiar with and capable of offering both techniques to the patient.
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To describe surgical management with complete resection of patients with recurrent benign or malignant lesions involving the cavernous sinus after standard therapy with an emphasis on surgical indications and surgical technique. ⋯ Complete cavernous sinus resection is an option for patients with progressive or recurrent tumors after standard therapy. Extended survival can occur in some patients. The risks of surgery are considerable, and the underlying disease, age of the patient, and associated comorbidities should be considered when making the decision to operate. Surgery should be considered for oncologic resection of malignant tumors with limited extracranial disease or in patients with recurrent or progressive benign tumors. A key decision involves whether revascularization should be used with resection. Revascularization has been used in patients with inadequate vascular reserve as measured by balloon occlusion testing and patients with benign tumors and longer life expectancy.
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Case Reports
Partial anterior petrosectomies for upper basilar artery trunk aneurysms: a cadaveric and clinical study.
Surgical clipping for upper basilar artery (BA) trunk aneurysms has become less common since the popularization of endovascular therapy. However, when endovascular therapy is not feasible, direct open surgery is still the treatment of choice. The anterior transpetrosal approach (ATP) is most often used to safely treat these aneurysms. We evaluate the feasibility of a modified partial anterior transpetrosal approach for the treatment of upper BA trunk aneurysms. ⋯ Modification and minimization of the conventional ATP provided sufficient exposure for the treatment of upper BA trunk aneurysms. Detailed anatomical knowledge obtained though cadaveric dissection facilitated development of this effective and less invasive approach.
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As the aged population is rapidly growing globally, geriatric traumatic brain injury (TBI) becomes an increasing problem. There are higher mortality and poorer functional outcome in the geriatric TBI population (≥65 years) compared with younger groups despite neurosurgical interventions. Therefore, current treatment priorities and cost-effectiveness should be critically examined. We evaluated the benefit of surgical management in the elderly (≥65 years) after TBI. ⋯ We confirmed that age is a major determinant of outcome after TBI. In addition, we found that neurosurgical management is associated with the improvement of the prognosis and a decrease in the rate of mortality in geriatric TBI. However, surgical management was not shown to be an effective treatment in elderly patients with GCS scores of 3-5.
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Case Reports
The pterional transsylvian transtentorial approach to ventrolateral pontine cavernomas: indications and techniques.
The authors describe a pterional transsylvian transtentorial approach to the ventrolateral pons based on its clinical application to cavernomas. ⋯ Although a comprehensive comparison with other approaches needs a large patient volume and a prospective designed study, the pterional transsylvian transtentorial approach could be an alternative for ventrolateral pontine cavernomas. The principle for this approach to ventrolateral pontine cavernomas is that if the thinnest parenchyma layer over the cavernoma could be defined in the ipsilateral upper ventrolateral pons, facilitated by an oblique multiangled working space, cavernomas in even the entire ventrolateral pons could be removed.