Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T08:17:56.552Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Transcranial translabyrinthine approach to vestibular schwannomas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2007

Joseph G. Feghali  and
Allen B. Kantrowitz
Joseph G. Feghali*
Affiliation:
Departments of Otolaryngology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY
Allen B. Kantrowitz
Affiliation:
Departments of Neurosurgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY
*
Joseph G. Feghali, M.D., Montefiore Medical Center, 111 East 210th Street, Bronx, NY 10467, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Surgeons who utilize the suboccipital approach for the removal of large vestibular schwannomas, can perform a planned labyrinthectomy from within the intracranial cavity via the suboccipital exposure. This transcranial translabyrinthine approach provides one of the major advantages of the conventional transmastoid translabyrinthine approach, namely, unambiguous identification of the facial nerve as it exits the internal auditory canal, without the need for complete mastoidectomy and labyrinthectomy. The labyrinthectomy is best performed prior to the complete exposure of the internal auditory canal. The approach requires the surgeon to identify the endolymphatic sac intracranially, then drill the temporal bone and follow the vestibular aqueduct to the utricle. The lateral and superior semicircular canal ampullae, the superior vestibular nerve, Bill's bar, and the facial nerve at the lateral end of the internal auditory canal can then be identified. After testing on multiple cadaver temporal bones, this approach was used in patients with large tumours that extended far laterally in the internal auditory canal. The steps in the technique are described in detail.

Keywords

SchwannomaacousticSurgeryinner ear
Type
Main Articles
Information
The Journal of Laryngology & Otology , Volume 107 , Issue 2 , February 1993 , pp. 111 - 114
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Presented at the meeting of the Eastern Section of the Triologic Society; Boston, MA, January 30-February 1, 1992.

References

Brackmann, D. E. (1982) Translabyrinthine removal of acoustic neurinomas. In Neurological Surgery of the Ear and Skull Base. (Brackmann, D. E., ed.) Raven Press, New York, p 235–241.Google Scholar
Cohen, N. L. (1988) Management and therapy of tumors of the cerebellopontine angle. In Otologic Medicine and Surgery (Alberti, P. W., Ruben, R. J., eds.). Churchill Livingstone, New York, p 1423–1449.Google Scholar
Dandy, W. E. (1925) Operation for total removal of cerebellopontine (acoustic) tumors. Surgery Gynecology and Obstetrics, 41: 129–148.Google Scholar
House, W. F., Graham, M. D. (1973) Surgery for acoustic tumors. Otolaryngologic Clinics of North America, 6 (1): 245–266.Google Scholar
Ojemann, R. G., Crowell, R. M. (1978) Vestibular schwannomas treated by microsurgical suboccipital operations. Progress in Neurological Surgery, 9: 337–373.Google Scholar
Samii, M. (1984) Results of 110 microsurgical acoustic neuroma operations. European Archives of Psychiatry and Neurological Sciences, 234 (1): 42–47.Google Scholar
Silverstein, H., Norell, H. (1982) Retrolabyrinthine vestibular neurectomy. Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, 90: 778–782.Google Scholar