ABSTRACT
In clinics,lateral skull base comprises intradural cerebellopontine angle area,and the region of extradural temporal and infratemporal fossa.The modern lateral skull base surgery started from those two operations that were surgical removal of acoustic schwannoma via otological approach and the extirpation of glomus jugulare tumor through infratemporal fossa.The pioneers of these two classic surgeries were the otologists who developed the new field of otological surgery.Since then,the lateral skull base surgery has become a developed and academical platform of multiple related disciplines,such as neurosurgery,head-neck surgery and reconstructive surgery etc.The lateral skull base surgeries build upon the microsurgical techniques and innovative surgical approaches,which are available successfully to treat riskful disorders in the so-called inaccessible regions.Nevertheless,it is better to find the best equation between the preservation of skull base structures with their function and the vital safety during each decision of surgical strategy.Probably,minimal invasive surgery or precision treatments of the disorders in skull base would become a new horizon in the future.