[Access to the anterior cranial fossa through the frontal sinus]

In 1998 to 2001, the Academician N. N. Burdenko Research Institute of Neurosurgery operated on 15 patients aged 20 to 65 years who had bulky processes in the base of the skull and paranasal sinuses by applying an access through the frontal sinus. Most patients (n = 7) had meningiomas. The others had osteoma of the base of anterior cranial fossa (n = 2), chondroma (n = 2), angiofibroma (n = 1), fibroma (n = 1), esthesioneuroepithelioma (n = 1), and neurinoma (n = 1). The main criteria for choosing this access were the site and extent of a process, the sizes of the frontal sinus, and no signs of acute or chronic rhinosinusitis. The length of frontal sinuses in the most measurement was 3.5 to 5.0 cm, their width was 7 to 10 cm. All patients showed no progression of neurological symptoms. Three patients had a decrease in visual acuity from 1.0 to 0.8; with vascular therapy, visual disorders regressed during 2 months. Olfaction became worse in 4 cases, there was anosmia in 2 cases. Nasal liquorrhea was not observed. When there were tumors in the anterior cranial fossa, an access through the anterior wall of the frontal sinus permits radical removal of both intra- and extracranial parts of a tumor with closure of the defect with a periostal flap.