Safety of petrosal vein sacrifice during cerebellopontine angle surgery

Abstract

Petrosal vein (PV) is an important drainage vein of posterior cranial fossa, needs to be properly preserved during cerebellopontine angle (CPA) surgery. Whether it is safe to sacrifice PV is a topic of intense debate and worth discussing. On one hand, some systematic studies concluded that the complications after obliteration of PV were negligible, and on the other hand, fatal complications caused by the sacrifice of PV were reported intermittently. This paper intends to review the anatomy of PV, the complications after sacrifice of PV, the evidence and opinions on the safety of PV sacrifice, and preoperative or intraoperative methods for evaluating the safety of PV sacrifice, so as to refine the surgical management of PV by neurosurgeons.

Keywords

• cerebellopontine angle
• cerebral veins
• neurosurgical procedures
• review