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The long-term follow-up of drainage procedures for petrous apex cholesterol granulomas
B P Fong1, D E Brackmann, F F Telischi
1Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, University of Southern California-Los Angeles, USA.
Insights
Surgical drainage of petrous apex cholesterol granulomas using infracochlear and infralabyrinthine approaches effectively resolves symptoms long-term while preserving hearing. These methods demonstrate significant lesion reduction and aeration.
Area of Science:
- Otolaryngology
- Neurosurgery
- Surgical Oncology
Background:
- Petrous apex cholesterol granulomas (PACG) can cause significant neurological deficits.
- Surgical drainage is a primary treatment modality for PACG.
Observation:
- A retrospective cohort study evaluated 25 patients undergoing surgical drainage for PACG.
- Follow-up averaged 4.6 years, assessing symptom relief, hearing, and imaging.
- Surgical approaches included transcanal infracochlear, infralabyrinthine, middle fossa, and translabyrinthine.
Findings:
- Twenty-three patients experienced improvement or resolution of cranial nerve VIII dysfunction.
- Hearing preservation was noted with middle fossa, infralabyrinthine, and infracochlear approaches.
- Over 75% of imaged patients showed lesion size reduction, and 33% had petrous apex aeration.
- The infracochlear approach showed excellent early results with complete lesion reduction in all cases.
Implications:
- Infracochlear and infralabyrinthine drainage are effective long-term treatments for PACG.
- These approaches offer successful decompression and hearing preservation.
- The infracochlear approach shows promise as a minimally invasive option.
Objective:
To determine the long-term effectiveness of various approaches to surgical drainage of petrous apex cholesterol granulomas.
Design:
A retrospective cohort study in which patients treated by surgical drainage for petrous apex cholesterol granulomas were followed up for a minimum of 1 year (mean, 4.6 years).
Setting:
House Ear Clinic, an otologic tertiary care center in Los Angeles, Calif.
Patients:
A total of 25 patients who underwent either transcanal infracochlear, infralabyrinthine, middle fossa, or translabyrinthine drainage and who had at least 1 year of clinical and, in some cases, radiologic postoperative follow-up.
Main Outcome Measures:
Relief or recurrence of symptoms, need for revision surgery, postoperative hearing, appearance on postoperative imaging studies.
Results:
Twenty-three patients had improvement or complete resolution of preoperative noncranial nerve VIII nerve dysfunction. Hearing was preserved in cases of middle fossa, infralabyrinthine, and infracochlear approaches with serviceable preoperative hearing. Hearing did not improve in cases of total preoperative hearing loss. Of the patients who underwent postoperative imaging, over three fourths had reduction in lesion size and one third developed aeration of the petrous apex. Revision surgery was required in three patients. Recently developed, the infracochlear approach has shown excellent early results. Lesion size was reduced in five of five patients, and the petrous apex contained air in three of five patients who underwent the infracochlear approach.
Conclusion:
Drainage via the infracochlear and infralabyrinthine approaches offers effective long-term decompression of petrous apex cholesterol granulomas, while preserving hearing.