Summary
This study presents a series of 10 patients with anterior skull base tumours, treated by a team of neurosurgeons and head- and neck surgeons. The series included 7 malignant tumours of the nose and paranasal sinuses and 1 retinoblastoma, all with intracranial extension through the lamina cribrosa. There were also 2 patients with an anterior base meningioma, growing into the ethmoid sinus and the nasal cavity.
8 tumours were resected by a combined bifrontal craniotomy and uni- or bilateral rhinotomy. In 2 cases a bifrontal craniotomy alone without facial incision sufficed. The skull base was closed with a pediculated pericranial flap and a split-thickness free skin graft underneath.
There were no postoperative problems of wound infection, CSF-leakage or meningitis. Recurrent tumour growth or systemic metastasis occurred in 5 out of 7 patients with malignant tumours, 6 months to 2 years postoperatively.
The related literature and especially questions of operative indications and technique, including different possibilities of closure and reconstruction of the skull base, are discussed.
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Goffin, J., Fossion, E., Plets, C. et al. Craniofacial resection for anterior skull base tumours. Acta neurochir 110, 33–37 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01402045
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01402045