Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery

Abstract

Cranial base surgery is the surgical discipline that deals with disease processes that affect the skull base or related tissues. These include developmental, inflammatory, traumatic, vascular, and neoplastic problems. Over the last 30 years, there has been a radical transformation of cranial base surgery with parallel advances in diagnostic modalities, surgical technologies, and radiation therapy. Advances in surgery have been driven by new surgical technologies such as image-guided navigation, Hopkins rod-lens endoscopes, and reconstructive materials. Endoscopic techniques have been adopted by most surgical disciplines and now play a prominent role in the treatment of cranial base pathology.