Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery: A Comprehensive Guide with Illustrative Cases / Edition 1

by Hrayr K. Shahinian, M.S. Kabil, R. Jarrahy, M.-P. Thill

Overview

I am honored to be asked to write a foreword to this comprehensive and fascinating book on skull base surgery (SBS) by Dr. Shahinian, who I consider among the pioneers in the field. I should start by writing a disclaimer. I first met Dr. Shahinian when he was a brilliant surgical resident at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 1986. Over the next several years, I had the pleasure of following his career through different training rotations in the United States and abroad. I remember well when he told me that skull base surgery was his career choice. I thought it was a high-risk career move considering that the discipline was still in its early development. As a result, I was quite gratified to follow Dr. Shahinian’s professional success as he developed the Skull Base Institute, initially in New York, and later in Los Angeles. I would like to first define SBS from my perspective as a general surgeon. SBS denotes a group of operations involving the base of the skull or its contents. The skull base is divided into an anterior (attached to the facial skeleton), middle, and posterior areas. Vital arteries, veins, as well as cranial nerves pass through the skull base. Consequently, this part of the skull has historically been the most difficult to access, and lesions of the skull base were often associated with a poor prognosis.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781617377907
Publisher:	Springer-Verlag New York, LLC
Publication date:	12/10/2010
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of hardcover 1st ed. 2008
Pages:	193
Product dimensions:	8.27(w) x 10.98(h) x 0.32(d)

Table of Contents

Anesthetic Considerations in Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery.- Neuroendocrine Aspects of Skull Base Surgery.- Interventional Neuroradiology Aspects of Skull Base Surgery.- Instrumentation in Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery.- The Fully Endoscopic Endonasal Approach.- The Fully Endoscopic Transglabellar Approach.- The Fully Endoscopic Supraorbital Approach.- The Fully Endoscopic Retrosigmoid Approach.- The Fully Endoscopic Subtemporal Approach.

Editorial Reviews

From the reviews:

"This multidisciplinary surgical atlas describes endoscopic approaches for selected skull base pathologies and provides a framework for applying these techniques by detailing important considerations such as room set-up, patient positioning, and instrument selection. … It is primarily written for experienced neurosurgeons, endoscopic sinus surgeons, and/or head and neck surgeons who seek to extend their capabilities at managing often-complicated pathologies with decreased morbidity." (Rakesh K Chandra, Doody’s Review Service, February, 2008)

"The endoscopic approach is becoming increasingly popular and we in plastic surgery must keep in touch with what is happening. This book is coauthored by a neuroradiologist, an endocrinologist, an anesthesiologist, and an interventional neuroradiologist. … This in itself makes it an interesting publication. … For plastic surgeons involved in skull base surgery, this book is worth an investment for the library." (Ian Jackson, European Journal of Plastic Surgery, Vol. 31, 2008)

From the Publisher

Reviewer: Rakesh K Chandra, MD (Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine)
Description: This multidisciplinary surgical atlas describes endoscopic approaches for selected skull base pathologies and provides a framework for applying these techniques by detailing important considerations such as room set-up, patient positioning, and instrument selection.
Purpose: The purpose, according to the author, is to assist future generations of skull base surgeons in the pursuit of medical excellence, thus advancing the field. This is a noble objective, given the ongoing proliferation and evolution of minimally invasive surgical techniques across a multitude of surgical disciplines. Overall, the book does meet these objectives and will have value in advancing the application of minimally invasive skull base procedures.
Audience: It is primarily written for experienced neurosurgeons, endoscopic sinus surgeons, and/or head and neck surgeons who seek to extend their capabilities at managing often-complicated pathologies with decreased morbidity. The author, coauthors, and contributors are an international group representing a spectrum of subspecialties including neurosurgery, reconstructive surgery, neurointerventional radiology, anesthesiology, endocrinology, and otolaryngology.
Features: The book covers components from all of these specialties, with an emphasis on "fully endoscopic" approaches via different portals of entry to access various difficult skull base regions. The chapters are written such that preoperative planning, including room set-up and positioning, are addressed for each technique. The other major strength of this book is its superior illustration quality. Well-structured artist renderings are complemented by a rich array of high quality intraoperative photos and radiologic images. Perhaps the only shortcoming of the book is its lack of references, although admittedly much of this content is not well described in any published series to date. Some of the chapters may benefit from more detailed descriptions of patient selection or exclusion criteria.
Assessment: The rapid proliferation of minimally invasive head and neck surgery has reached a critical mass, whereby it has become clear that patients have a significant opportunity to experience lower morbidity with similar (if not better) disease control. Books such as this are important to help broaden application of these techniques. I am hopeful that the authors will proceed with subsequent editions as techniques continue to evolve.

Doody's Review Service