Retrosigmoidal approach

Abstract

The suboccipital method of gaining access to the lateral posterior fossa and cerebellopontine angle was first used successfully by Sir Charles Ballance in 1894, who operated on a “fibrosarcoma of the meninges” attached to the dural covering of the posterior surface of the petrous bone. The operation was carried out in two stages and the tumor was extracted by finger dissection between the sensitive neurovascular structures. The patient survived with residual trigeminal and facial nerve injury [Ballance 1894].