Anatomic Study of Endoscopic Transnasal Approach to Petrous Apex

Abstract

With the development of Neurosurgery technology, there has been a qualitative leap forward with the appearance of microanatomy, which makes the deep brain tumors which were hard to be achieved in the past, and effectively reduces the mortality of patients. Petrous apex is a cone-shaped part of the anteromedial part of the temporal bone, which is deep. It has been a challenging area for surgical anatomy for a long time. In this paper, fresh adult perfused cadaveric head specimens and dry adult cadaveric head specimens were taken as the experimental objects. The anterior wall of sphenoid sinus and the internal septum of sphenoid sinus were excised under neuroendoscope. The structures of the lateral wall of sphenoid sinus were identified and dissected. The lateral wall of sphenoid sinus and the bone of skull base were opened with micro drill, The meninges were exposed and cut open, and the related structures were dissected, observed and photographed. The experimental results show that it is relatively safe to operate in the range of less than 8mm, and the rock tip can be found accurately. The measurement of the bony structure of the skull base is helpful for the surgeon to judge the course of the internal carotid artery and its adjacent structure.