ENDOSCOPY OF THE CEREBELLOPONTINE ANGLE
J Magnan, A.Chays, M Bruzzo, L. Broder, H El Garem
University Aix Marseille II - Hopital Nord -
13915 Marseille cedex 20 - (FRANCE)
The authors present their experience of endoscopy of the cerebellopontine angle performed via retrosigmoid approach in 568 patients from June 1990 to December 1997.
The advantages of the endoscopy of the CPA are simplicity and efficiency of the procedure and less invasive otoneurological surgery.
The authors emphasise the importance of the endoscopic-assisted procedure on the one hand in acoustic neuroma surgery to get more accurate information about the relationship between the tumoral process and the adjacent structures, and to control the lateral end of the internal auditory canal; on the other and in vascular decompression surgery of hemifacial spasm or trigeminal neuralgia the intraoperative endoscopy is the key instrument giving a safe and atraumatic way to identify offending vessels.