BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Skull base chordomas are clinically malignant because of the difficulty of total removal, high recurrence rate, and occasional drop metastasis. Although aggressive surgical resection and postoperative radiation have been recommended, the long-term outcome remains unsatisfactory. METHODS From 1992 to 2011, we treated 24 patients with skull base chordoma using aggressiv...

BACKGROUND Meningiomas are the most commonly diagnosed primary intracranial neoplasms. Despite significant advances in modern therapies, the management of malignant meningioma and skull base meningioma remains a challenge. Thus, the development of new treatment modalities is urgently needed for these difficult-to-treat meningiomas. The goal of this study was to investigate the potential of buil...

Primary osteosarcomas of the skull and skull base are rare and comprise < 2% of all skull tumors. In head and neck osteosarcomas, the chondroblastic subtype occurs most frequently, which has an exceedingly poor outcome, but its image characteristic remains unknown. Herein, we report a case in the right occipital bone of the skull base and the unique characteristics of image. Pathologic examinat...

Endoscopic endonasal skull base surgery (EESBS) is undergoing a remarkable evolution as in the last two decades it shifted from pituitary surgery to a myriad of approaches extending from the cribriform plate to C2 and laterally to the petrous apex and to the infratemporal fossa. The collaboration with ENT surgeons, technological advances in the field of instrumentation and endoscopic systems, a...

BACKGROUND Nonvestibular schwannomas of the skull base often represent a challenge owing to their anatomic location. With improved techniques in endoscopic endonasal skull base surgery, resection of various ventral skull base tumors, including schwannomas, has become possible. OBJECTIVE To assess the outcomes of using endoscopic endonasal approach (EEA) for nonvestibular schwannomas of the sk...

OBJECTIVES Chondroblastoma is a rare tumor accounting for 1% of primary bone tumors. Chondroblastoma involving the skull base is exceedingly rare with approximately 60 cases reported. We reviewed our experience with chondroblastoma of the skull base with an emphasis on current lateral skull base approaches and long-term tumor control. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING A retrospective case review at a ...

BACKGROUND Very few cases of severe penetrating injuries to the skull base with a seemingly innocuous object have been described in the literature. Of the cases reported, only ten involve a penetrating screwdriver. However, the choice of therapeutic management, whether it be emergency surgical or non-surgical removal of the penetrating object as well as the selected surgical approach remain qui...

Training in dissection of the skull base is essential for anatomical understanding and correct surgical techniques, but chances for cadaver dissection are limited, so a substitute is very desirable. Modifications of commercially available three-dimensional (3D) temporal bone and whole skull base models made from surgically dissectable artificial bone are proposed to include artificial dura mate...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS Failure in skull base defects reconstruction following tumor resection can have serious consequences such as ascending meningitis and pneumocephaly. The nasoseptal flap showed a very low incidence of cerebrospinal fluid leak but is not always available. The superiorly pedicled facial artery musculomucosal (FAMM) flap has been successfully used for reconstruction of head an...