Osteoplastic Anterior Transoral Approach for Tumors of the Middle Cranial Fossa

Surgical access to tumors involving the midline skull base remains a considerable challenge for surgeons. Various surgical approaches for treating these tumors like transnasal, transantral, and endoscopic approaches sometimes have anatomical limitations. This paper describes a transoral approach with a Lefort 1 osteotomy that allows a great visualization, not only to the center of the skull base but also the infratemporal fossa. This technique may be used for the surgical resection of extracranial and intracranial benign tumors, and non-neoplastic intradural pathology, which does not require dural resection. The authors will review proper patient selection, surgical exposure, operative procedure, and complications.