Major Internal Carotid Artery Injury During Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery: Case Report.

Major vascular structures are always at risk during complex skull base surgery, particularly with use of the endoscopic endonasal approach, and intraoperative damage of the internal carotid artery (ICA) can be a devastating complication. Herein, we report a case of a young patient who had a major injury of the left ICA during endoscopic resection of a recurrent petrous bone chordoma. Massive bleeding was controlled by a Foley balloon inserted and kept in the resection area. Urgent angiography revealed a persistent leak from the petrous segment of the left ICA, and the vessel was sacrificed with coiling, since a balloon occlusion test showed good collateral blood flow. The patient woke up from anesthesia without a neurological deficit. Salvage resection of recurrent skull base neoplasms deserves specific attention because of the possibility of major vascular damage. In cases of intraoperative ICA injury, its management requires immediate decisions, and the available possibilities for endovascular therapy should always be considered.

Suprasellar Epidermoid Cyst: Case Report of Extended Endoscopic Transsphenoidal Resection and Systematic Review of the Literature.

BACKGROUND: Suprasellar epidermoid cysts (SECs) constitute a large portion of so-called pearly tumors. Despite their insidious development and infiltration into vital neurovascular structures, they have a friable consistency, which particularly facilitates their resection; the only alternative to surgery is wait-and-see policy. We present a case of SEC in a patient with bitemporal hemianopia and no other significant symptoms and results of analysis of data on surgical treatment of 71 similar cases reported in the last 4 decades. CASE DESCRIPTION: A 29-year-old man presented with 1 year blurred vision. Bitemporal hemianopia was detected by perimetry. The patient was otherwise fit and well, with no significant past medical history. Magnetic resonance imaging showed an extra-axial suprasellar lesion with expansion toward the prepontine cistern, which showed restricted diffusion. The patient was operated on via a binostril endoscopic transtuberculum-transplanum endonasal approach. Pathologic examination confirmed the diagnosis of epidermoid cyst. The postoperative course was complicated by third cranial nerve palsy, rhinorrhea, which required reoperation, and diabetes insipidus. Otherwise, the patient made a good recovery and reported subjective improvement of visual acuity. Gradually, the left third cranial nerve function improved and there was neither any long-term complication nor recurrence on 6 months follow-up study. CONCLUSIONS: A suprasellar location frequently impedes the gross total resection of epidermoid cysts. Endoscopic endonasal approaches might be more effective in resection of lesions that do not extend laterally beyond the cranial nerves. The introduction of magnetic resonance imaging and surgical endoscopy were fundamental achievements in SEC management. There is a constant need for quality case reports on the management of these intracranial tumors.