Evolution and advances of the lateral surgical approaches to cranial base neoplasms

The evolution and advances of the lateral surgical approaches used for neoplasms of the cranial base involving the middle and posterior cranial fossa are reviewed. The lateral approaches available for access to the cranial base are diverse and are often used in combination. Approaches for tumors that are completely extradural, usually involving the temporal bone or infratemporal fossa, include the infratemporal fossa approach described by Fisch and the preauricular subtemporal-infratemporal fossa approach. Lateral approaches used to provide exposure of intradural tumors involving the clivus and traversing the middle and posterior cranial fossa are based on the following approaches: the frontotemporal orbitozygomatic, subtemporal/middle fossa, transpetrosal, lateral suboccipital, and transcondylar approaches. The great strides that have been made in the safe and effective surgical treatment of cranial base neoplasms are due, in part, to the availability of multiple surgical approaches and the ability to tailor the planned operative procedure to the precise location and extent of the cranial base tumor.