Surgical resection of pontine cavernous malformation remains a particularly formidable challenge. We report the surgical outcome of eight cases with pontine cavernous malformations operated using the anterior transpetrosal approach. All cases presented with neurological deficits caused by hemorrhage before surgery. Gross-total removal was achieved in all cases without any postoperative complication such as worsening of facial nerve palsy, ocular movement disorder, or hemiplegia. A small incision of the pons with multidirectional dissection is the most important factor for minimizing postoperative neurological deficits, so resection of a pontine cavernous malformation via this approach can be an alternative better option. The video can be found here: https://youtu.be/2Q2CUhBbo28.
Keywords: anterior transpetrosal approach; pontine cavernous malformation; surgical resection; video.
© 2019, Hiroki Morisako, Takeo Goto, Christian A. Bohoun, Hironori Arima, Tsutomu Ichinose, Kenji Ohata.