An Awake Contralateral, Transcallosal Approach for Deep-Seated Gliomas of the Basal Ganglia

The basal ganglia and thalamus are uncommon locations for infiltrating gliomas. Tumors here are usually managed with biopsy and adjuvant therapy, with relatively poor results. Rarely do patients undergo extensive surgical intervention. It seems reasonable to suggest that successful cytoreduction may help these patients. However, this hypothesis has not been studied because of the general view that it is not possible to remove deep-seated brain tumors with acceptable outcomes.

Through retrospective data collection, we describe a small case series of patients undergoing awake contralateral, transcallosal surgery for deep-seated brain tumors affecting the basal ganglia. We describe our patient cohort, report on patient outcomes, and describe our surgical technique.

Four patients underwent awake contralateral, transcallosal surgery for glioblastoma invading the basal ganglia. All 4 patients demonstrated hemibody weakness contralateral to the side of their tumors, with 3 patients confined to wheelchairs at presentation. Their ages ranged from 25 to 64 years. Tumor volumes ranged from 14 to 93 cm³. More than 50% resection of each tumor was achieved during surgery. In 2 cases, approximately 90% resection was achieved. Motor strength improved in 1 patient who presented with hemiplegia. Two patients required ventriculoperitoneal shunting for complications related to hydrocephalus. At the writing of this article, 2 of our patients were still alive, functional, and free of tumor progression.

We present the results of our attempts to resect large gliomas infiltrating the basal ganglia in 4 patients. Our technique combined a contralateral, transcallosal approach with awake neuromonitoring. Our results suggest it is possible to remove these tumors with reasonable outcomes.