Endoscopic Surgical Management of Intracranial Symptomatic Arachnoid Cyst

Abstract

Background and Aim: Intracranial Arachnoid Cysts (IAC) are suitable choices for endoscopic procedure to avoid craniotomy or shunt placement. Our main objective is to study the outcome of endoscopic procedure in IAC treatment. Methods and Materials/Patients: In this descriptive and retrospective study, we report our experience of 27 symptomatic patients with IAC who underwent endoscopic surgery at National Institute of Neurosciences Hospital and Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh from January 2009 to December 2016. The recorded data of patients’ management including operations, outcomes, and follow up were studied retrospectively. The diagnosis was confirmed by neuroimaging, surgery and histopathological examination. Patients were postoperatively followed up on regular basis. Results: Size of the IAC decreased (significant to minimal) in all cases. Even where size reduction was minimal, patients’ symptoms improved significantly. No IAC increased in size after endoscopic procedure. There was no recurrence of symptoms in the follow up period. There was no postoperative mortality or major morbidity related to the surgery. Conclusion: Based on our results, most of symptomatic IAC cases can be managed by endoscopic procedure which seems to be a safe and effective method.

Keywords

• Intracranial
• Symptomatic
• Arachnoid cyst
• Endoscopic surgical management
• Cysto-ventriculostomy
• Cysto-cisternostomy
• Endoscopy