Anatomical Study on the Skull Base for Minimally Invasive Keyhole Approach to Sellar Lesions / 中国微创外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the anatomy of the skull base for minimally invasive keyhole approach to sellar lesions.MethodsSixty-seven samples of adult skull bone(134 sides) were collected and sawed at the levels of the supraorbital arch and anterior skull base.After inspecting the opening of the frontal sinus,we observed the appearance of the orbit roof(cerebral juga),and measured the maximum height of the two cerebral jugas.Afterwards,the operation distances and angles with regard to the anterior and posterior clinoid processes through the trans-upper orbit,trans-lateral front,trans-pterion,and trans-sub-temple keyhole approaches in 15 skull bone samples were measured.And then,we statistically analyzed the variance in these measurements among the four operative approaches.ResultsOf the 67(134 sides) adult skull bone samples,52 sides showed frontal sinus openness(38.8%,52/134).Most of the skull bases were clawed(multicuspidity or oblique ridge multicuspidity).The maximum height of the cerebral juga that was less than 2.50 mm was found in 36 sides(26.9%),and over 2.51 mm in 98 sides(73.1%).Among the four methods,the shortest distances between the keyhole and the anterior and posterior clinoid processes were found in the trans-sub-temple keyhole approach [(4.87?0.47) cm and(4.93?0.45) cm],and the longest were observed in the trans-lateral front keyhole approach[(6.45?0.30) cm and(7.83?0.54) cm],and trans-upper orbit keyhole approach[(6.47?0.28) cm and(8.31?0.34) cm].The angle between the sagittal section and the keyhole in the trans-lateral front keyhole approach [(40.83?1.11) ? and(37.86?1.37)?] was larger than that in the trans-upper orbit one [(10.23?0.90) ? and(12.29?0.86)?],while the angle between the cross section and the keyhole in the trans-sub-temple keyhole approach [(21.21?0.45) ? and(20.10?0.63)?] was larger than that in the trans-pterion one [(5.49?0.30)? and(9.84?0.58)?].ConclusionsThe size of the frontal sinus,shape and height of the cerebral juga,depth of the skull base operation,and angle between the operational and the skull base planes play important roles in the selection of minimally invasive keyhole approach for sellar lesions.