Surgery to remove tumors at the skull base requires immense precision. WMCHealth’s leading neurosurgeons have access to breakthroughs in medical treatments and use the most advanced minimally invasive techniques to tackle the most complex skull-base tumor cases.
What Is Skull-base Surgery?
Skull-base surgery is a surgical procedure that removes tumors found forming at the base of the skull. While most skull-base tumors are noncancerous, their location can make surgery lengthy and challenging. At WMCHealth, we offer multiple options and use the most advanced minimally invasive technology to assist our surgeons in optimizing tumor removal while minimizing injury to surrounding healthy brain tissues and structures.
When Is Skull-base Surgery Needed?
- Chordoma
- Meningioma
- Chondrosarcoma
- Rathke’s cleft cyst
- Acoustic neuroma
- Epidermoid tumor
- Pituitary adenoma
- Craniopharyngioma
- Paranasal sinus cancer
- Olfactory neuroblastoma
Types of Skull-base Surgery
At WMCHealth, neurosurgeons are experienced in many types of skull-base surgery to provide optimal outcomes with minimal risk, less pain, and shorter recovery times. Our access to the most advanced surgeries means patients have innovative care options, close to home.
Minimally Invasive Craniotomy
In some cases, surgeons can access a tumor through a series of smaller operations, avoiding a traditional long incision to create a large opening in the skull. The procedure can result in better cosmetic results and less pain than a traditional operation.
Modifications of Traditional Craniotomy
Larger tumors still require large operations. Nevertheless, at WMCHealth, neurosurgeons can perform operations with hair-sparing incisions. We secure our incisions with absorbable sutures. This leads to better cosmetic results and requires no painful staple removal procedures following surgery.
Stereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) with TrueBeam™
An alternative to traditional surgical options is stereotactic radiosurgery. It has proven effective with skull-base tumors and avoids the ordeal of undergoing open surgery.
We perform SRS with the TrueBeam™ system, a highly accurate machine that optimizes comfort and shortens treatment times. Some tumors can be treated in as little as one session, and it does not require weeks of daily therapy. This accelerated treatment reduces typical side effects usually associated with brain radiation, such as hair loss.
Other Cutting-Edge Technology
Our surgeons are specially trained to operate on skull-base tumors and use the most advanced technologies and tools to safely and effectively remove deep-seated tumors.
Orbeye™4K 3D Exoscope
This innovative intraoperative microscope provides the best form of 3D tumor visualization in the operating room and allows surgeons to see the tumor clearly and its relationship to surrounding tissue, vessels, and structures. This allows for extreme precision during surgery.
BrainPath® and Vycor ViewSite™
These systems use small tubes that delicately displace the normal brain tissue instead of boring through brain matter. This method allows a clear and safe corridor to the deep-seated mass. These technologies allow us to offer minimally invasive brain tumor surgery.