Tumors of the skull base

Abstract

The skull base is affected by a wide range of tumor pathologies. They are often slow-growing, benign, extra-axial tumors that cause symptoms by involvement of the cranial nerves or a mass effect on the brain stem and cerebellum. They are often located in critical areas within the cranium that are especially hard to reach with routine surgical techniques. Involvement of cranial nerves and vessels makes these lesions particularly challenging to treat surgically. Due to the benign nature of most of these lesions, complete surgical removal often affords a cure, although some skull-base tumors require a combination of surgical and radiation therapies. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.