Background: Injury to the internal carotid artery (ICA) is a potentially devastating complication of endoscopic endonasal surgery (EES) that as many as 20% of skull base surgeons will experience at least once during their careers. Managing these injuries is difficult given the small operative field and poor visibility created by high-flow hemorrhage, and, at present, there is no consensus regarding best practices.
Objective: This study seeks to consolidate the practices and opinions of experienced skull base surgeons from high-volume tertiary care centers into a single consensus statement regarding the best practices for managing ICA injuries during EES.
Methods: A panel of 23 skull base surgeons (15 neurosurgeons and 8 otolaryngologists) completed a 3-round Delphi survey that assessed experiences and opinions regarding various aspects of ICA injury management. Mean (SD) years since fellowship completion was 15.6 (8.1) and all but 3 surgeons had experienced an ICA injury at least once.
Results: The final consensus statement included 36 guidelines all of which were grouped under 1 of 4 categories: 11 statements concerned preoperative management and equipment for high-risk patients; 14 statements concerned hemorrhage control; 4 statements concerned definitive management; 7 statements concerned pharmacologic treatment, blood pressure, and neurophysiologic monitoring.
Conclusions: There are numerous decisions that a surgeon must make when facing a carotid artery injury. In our estimation, many questions can be grouped under 1 of the 4 categories outlined in our consensus statement and can be addressed by these findings.
Keywords: Delphi method; endoscopic skull base surgery; internal carotid artery; sinus surgery; vascular injury.