Many types of conditions can affect an area of the body referred to as the skull base. As the name suggests, the skull base is what we might consider the “bottom” of the skull. It is an area that is at the top of the nasal and sinus areas and at the bottom of the skull itself.
Over the last 20 years, there have been many improvements in the way problems of the skull base are treated. Conditions like skull base tumors and nasal cerebrospinal fluid leaks can now be treated through the nose. This allows surgeons to avoid having to cut through the outside of the skull. It also allows surgeons to treat the condition without having to apply a lot of pressure to move the brain out of the way.
The most common conditions treated with endoscopic skull base surgery include pituitary tumors, nasal and sinus tumors, sinus cerebrospinal fluid leaks, and sinus mucoceles and cysts. Some of these procedures require close collaboration between two types of skull base surgeons — an ENT skull base surgeon and a Neurosurgery skull base surgeon.
The link below is a video produced by the Crouse Neuroscience Institute that highlights treatment of a pituitary tumor by Dr. Goyal and Dr. Deshaies.