P.053 Expanded endoscopic endonasal approach for petrous apex lesions: our clinical experience and surgical techniques

Abstract

Background: Traditionally petrous apex lesions surgical approach is associated with multiple complications including brain injury secondary to brain retraction. Expanded endoscopic endonasal trans-clival (EEET) can be used in selected patients with minimal complications. Methods: We are presenting our experience over the last three years in patients who underwent EEET resection of petrous apex lesions: 8 patients underwent such procedure. All patients underwent extensive workup including MRI and CTA to identify the relation of the carotid to the lesion. All surgeries were done with neuro-physiological monitoring. Intraoperative neuronavigation and endoscopic Doppler were used to identify the petrous segment of the internal carotid artery. Our follow up ranged from 6 months to 2.5 years. Results: All patients presented with severe neurologic symptoms related to either fifth cranial nerve, sixth cranial nerve or brain stem compression. Pathologies included chondrosarcoma, cholesterol granulomas and lymphangioma. All patients demonstrated improvement in their symptoms. None of our patients had intra-operative vascular injury. There was no post-operative CSF leak or infection. Postoperative imaging demonstrated excellent resection with no clear residual. Three patient required adjuvant stereotactic radiosurgery because of their underlying pathology. Conclusions: The expanded endoscopic endonasal approach for petrous apex lesion should be considered as a minimally invasive approach in selected cases.