several lesions (inflammatory, neoplastic and congenital) can involve in the skull base. the role of imaging is to detect the location and extension of lesion, determine mass and mass like lesions, differentiate benign from malignant tumors, detect invasion to adjacent structures and make decision in surgical planning. skull base divides to anterior, middle and posterior cranial fossa and some ...

In recent years, neonatal cranial sonography has been extensively used to diagnose intracranial hemorrhages, congenital anomalies, and intracranial masses despite such limiting factors as the size of the anterior fontanelle and lack of contrast enhancement similar to cranial CT [1] . While cranial CT during infancy lacks easy access to direct sagittal scanning, sonography offers multiplanar ima...

CT and MR imaging studies were performed in a 3-year-old boy with infantile fibromatosis arising from the infratemporal fossa and extending into the middle cranial fossa. On CT scans, the lesion was hyperattenuating (44-49 Hounsfield units [HU]), enhancing significantly after application of contrast material (63-66 HU). The MR images showed a multilobulated lesion of heterogeneous signal intens...

Painful tic convulsif is a syndrome restricted to paroxysmal dysfunction of the fifth and seventh cranial nerves. It occurs primarily in women over the age of 50 years and is usually associated with an ectatic vertebrobasilar artery--less frequently an arteriovenous malformation or cholesteatoma--which compresses the trigeminal and facial nerve roots in the posterior fossa. In rare instances th...

T he infratemporal fossa (ITF) is a rare anatomic site for abscess formation. Infections in this space have been found following maxillary sinusitis, maxillary sinus fracture, temporomandibular arthroscopy, dental infection, and tooth extraction. The ITF is bounded superiorly by the sphenoid bone, medially by the lateral pterygoid plate, anteriorly by the maxilla, posteriorly by the deep paroti...

Arachnoid cysts which develop in relation to the cerebral hemispheres are usually found in the middle cranial fossa. These cysts are usually asymptomatic but can produce symptoms if there is haemorrhage into the cyst or the development of an associated subdural hematoma. Recent publications have emphasised the association of arachnoid cysts of the middle fossa with subdural haematomas. This rep...

Middle ear adenomas are rare and difficult to diagnose. Recent histological studies suggest the presence of a distinct disease entity known as a middle ear adenoma. A 16-year-old boy with a middle ear tumor was treated by partial temporal bone resection, and the tumor was removed by a combined method using the middle cranial fossa and infratemporal fossa approaches. Histological and immunohisto...

Arachnoid cysts are congenital lesions developing from arachnoid membrane. The incidence of arachnoid cysts in the general population is around 0.1% and their most common place is middle fossa. Arachnoid cysts usually present during childhood and are identified incidentally. When symptomatic, the most common presentation includes headache and seizure. The popular treatment for this lesion is su...

Variations of the posterior cranial fossa can alter surgical approaches to this region and pose a definite hazard if not considered. Inadvertent tearing of these large structures can result in morbidity and even mortality. We report an unusually large occipital sinus (1.5 cm x 6 cm) that instead of draining into the marginal sinus inferiorly, drained laterally into the jugular foramen and thus ...