Rehabilitation After Cranial Base Surgery

Recent advancements in skull base surgery to remove or diminish the size of cranial base tumors allow more to be done than ever before to preserve life for patients who have tumors in anatomic locations once considered unreachable without causing massive functional impairment or death. Nonetheless, the resulting outcome has a direct and serious impact on the quality of life of the patient. In this article on palliation, the authors focus on the rehabilitative techniques used in patients who have undergone extensive cranial base resection. These techniques can also be used to improve the life of patients who have not undergone surgery but suffer from poor quality of life because of the natural growth of the tumor.