Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery: Our Initial Experience

Abstract

Introduction Patients with lesions of the skull base form a minor but very important subgroup of patients presenting to the ENT surgeon or are referred from other departments with complaints such as headache, nasal discharge and nasal obstruction. This study was done to study the clinical presentation of the patients with lesions of the skull base, assess intra operative findings and complications, and to document post operative clinical course and histopathological reports. Materials and Methods A prospective study was conducted on 10 patients with skull base lesions, who were operated on at our institution between August 2014 and August 2015. Patients with clinically and radiologically documented skull base lesions operated by endoscopic methods were included, while those operated on with open methods or those having involvement of the cavernous sinuses and the internal carotid arteries were excluded. Results All patients in the group were successfully operated on with no major intra operative or post operative complications encountered. Adequate tissue was obtained for biopsy with adequate sellar decompression and plugging of CSF leaks was done as required. Conclusion Endoscopic interventions for the skull base lesions can be safely performed in tertiary care set ups with minimal intra operative and post operative morbidity and have a better prognosis than other open procedures.

Keywords

• Skull Base
• Pituitary Neoplasms
• Cerebrospinal Fluid Rhinorrhea
• Endoscopic Surgical Procedure