Biomedical subjects

Arlan Mintz

Publications and source records attributed to Arlan Mintz.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2007

Expanded endonasal approach: a fully endoscopic completely transnasal resection of a skull base arteriovenous malformation.

OBJECTIVE AND IMPORTANCE: Vascular lesions with an intraosseus nidus involving the skull base are uncommon and challenging [Gianoli GJ, Amedee RG Vascular malformation of the sphenoid sinus. Ear Nose Throat J. 70:373-375;(1991), Malik GM, Mahmood A, Mehta BA Dural arteriovenous malformation of the skull base with intraosseous vascular nidus. Report of two cases. J. Neurosurg 81:620-623;(1994)]. We present a pediatric patient, with a life-threatening arteriovenous malformation (AVM) of the sphenoid sinus, clivus, and ventral skull base, who failed routine multimodality management of AVMs. An entirely transsphenoidal fully endoscopic resection was used to resect this ventral cranial base AVM with an intraosseus nidus located in the clivus. CLINICAL PRESENTATION: A 4-year-old female presented with recurrent, life-threatening hemorrhages from a clival and ventral skull base AVM of the entire clivus and ventral skull base. The patient had been temporized from the age of 2-4 years with multiple internal and external carotid arterial particulate and alcohol embolizations, including both external and internal carotid artery embolizations, intracranial ligation of the right internal carotid artery, and gamma knife irradiation. Despite these multiple interventions, the patient had persistent, life-threatening hemorrhages from arterial recanalization and recruitment requiring intubation, tracheostomy, and nasopharyngeal packing. INTERVENTION: The patient underwent a three-stage surgical intervention to resect the AVM. An open subfrontal approach, as the first procedure, provided minimal access to the feeding vessels and was therefore aborted. A two-stage image-guided fully endoscopic approach via a sublabial midface approach without external incisions was performed. Postoperative angiography revealed minimal residual shunting in the pharynx and cavernous sinus. The patient has been free of significant hemorrhages over the past three years. CONCLUSION: Technological advances in endoscopic surgery and image guidance are now allowing for purely endoscopic surgical treatment of previously unresectable lesions with acceptable morbidity. We report the successful and safe resection of a ventral cranial base AVM via a fully endoscopic approach. This paper reports the first AVM with a purely intraosseus nidus of the ventral skull base and demonstrates the ability to deal with complex ventral skull base lesions using a fully endoscopic transsphenoidal technique.

Cerebral Angiography↗

PubMed2006

A novel reconstructive technique after endoscopic expanded endonasal approaches: vascular pedicle nasoseptal flap.

BACKGROUND: In patients with large dural defects of the anterior and ventral skull base after endonasal skull base surgery, there is a significant risk of a postoperative cerebrospinal fluid leak after reconstruction. Reconstruction with vascularized tissue is desirable to facilitate rapid healing, especially in irradiated patients. METHODS: We developed a neurovascular pedicled flap of the nasal septum mucoperiosteum and mucoperichondrium based on the nasoseptal artery, a branch of the posterior septal artery (Hadad-Bassagasteguy flap [HBF]). A retrospective review of patients undergoing endonasal skull base surgery at the University of Rosario, Argentina, and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center was performed to identify patients who were reconstructed with a vascularized septal mucosal flap. RESULTS: Forty-three patients undergoing endonasal cranial base surgery were repaired with the septal mucosal flap. Two patients with postoperative cerebrospinal fluid leaks (5%) were successfully treated with focal fat grafts. We encountered no infectious or wound complications in this series of patients. One patient experienced a posterior nose bleed from the posterior nasal artery. This was controlled with electrocautery and the flap blood supply was preserved. CONCLUSION: The HBF is a versatile and reliable reconstructive technique for defects of the anterior, middle, clival, and parasellar skull base. Its use has resulted in a sharp decrease in the incidence of postoperative cerebrospinal fluid leaks after endonasal skull base surgery and is recommended for the reconstruction of large dural defects and when postoperative radiation therapy is anticipated.

Adipose Tissue↗

PubMed2005

Expanded endonasal approach: the rostrocaudal axis. Part I. Crista galli to the sella turcica.

OBJECT: Transsphenoidal approaches have been used for a century for the resection of pituitary and other sellar tumors. More recently, the standard endonasal approach has been expanded to provide access to other, parasellar lesions. With the addition of the endoscope, this expansion carries significant potential for the resection of skull base lesions. METHODS: The anatomical landmarks and surgical techniques used in expanded (extended) endoscopic approaches to the rostral, anterior skull base are reviewed and presented, accompanied by case illustrations of each segment (or module) of approach. The rostral half of the anterior skull base is divided into modules of approach: sellar/parasellar, transplanum/transtuberculum, and transcribriform. Case illustrations of successful resections of lesions with each module are presented and discussed. CONCLUSIONS: Endoscopic, expanded endonasal approaches to rostral anterior skull base lesions are feasible and hold great potential for decreased morbidity. The effectiveness and appropriate use of these techniques must be evaluated by close examination of outcomes as case series expand.

Cranial Fossa, Posterior↗

PubMed2005

Expanded endonasal approach: the rostrocaudal axis. Part II. Posterior clinoids to the foramen magnum.

OBJECT: Transsphenoidal approaches have been used for a century for the resection of pituitary and other sellar tumors. Recently, however, the standard endonasal approach has been expanded to provide access to other parasellar lesions. With the addition of the endoscope, this expansion has significant potential for the resection of skull base lesions. METHODS: The anatomical landmarks and surgical techniques used in expanded (extended) endoscopic approaches to the clivus and cervicomedullary junction are reviewed and presented, accompanied by case illustrations of each segment (or module) of approach. The caudal portion of the midline anterior skull base and the cervicomedullary junction is divided into modules of approach: the middle third of the clivus, its lower third, and the cervicomedullary junction. Case illustrations of successful resections of lesions via each module of the approach are presented and discussed. CONCLUSIONS: Endoscopic expanded endonasal approaches to caudally located midline anterior skull base and cervicomedullary lesions are feasible and hold great potential for decreased morbidity. The effectiveness and appropriate use of these techniques must be evaluated by close examination of outcomes as case series expand.

Cranial Fossa, Posterior↗

PubMed2005

Expanded endonasal approach: fully endoscopic, completely transnasal approach to the middle third of the clivus, petrous bone, middle cranial fossa, and infratemporal fossa.

OBJECT: The middle third of the clivus and the region around the petrous internal carotid artery (ICA) is a difficult area of the skull base in terms of access. This is a deep area rich with critical neurovascular structures, which is often host to typical skull base diseases. Expanded endoscopic endonasal approaches offer a potential option for accessing this difficult region. The objective of this paper was to establish the clinical feasibility of gaining access to the paraclival space in the region of the middle third of the clivus, to provide a practical modular and clinically applicable classification, and to describe the relevant critical surgical anatomy for each module. METHODS: The anatomical organization of the region around the petrous ICA, cavernous sinus, and middle clivus is presented, with approaches divided into zones. In an accompanying paper in this issue by Cavallo, et al., the anatomy of the pterygopalatine fossa is presented; this was observed through cadaveric dissection for which an expanded endonasal approach was used. In the current paper the authors translate the aforementioned anatomical study to provide a clinically applicable categorization of the endonasal approach to the region around the petrous ICA. A series of zones inferior and superior to the petrous ICA are described, with an illustrative case presented for each region. CONCLUSIONS: The expanded endonasal approach is a feasible approach to the middle third of the clivus, petrous ICA, cavernous sinus, and medial infratemporal fossa in cases in which the lesion is located centrally, with neurovascular structures displaced laterally.

Cavernous Sinus↗

PubMed2005

Endoneurosurgical hemostasis techniques: lessons learned from 400 cases.

The increasing popularity of minimally invasive neurosurgery has led to the development of transnasal expanded approaches for the treatment of skull base lesions. One of the greatest challenges in safely accomplishing resection of tumors, particularly intradural lesions, is effective hemostasis. Over the past 7 years the authors have progressively developed an organized approach to address this challenge. This has required the development of new instrumentation as well as variations on standard techniques. In this report they present the technique that has evolved at their institution for endoneurosurgical hemostasis.

Bone Diseases↗

PubMed2005

Evolution of reconstructive techniques following endoscopic expanded endonasal approaches.

Harvey Cushing first popularized the transsphenoidal route to the sella turcica, and Jules Hardy subsequently refined it by adding the operating microscope. Over the ensuing decades, attempts at extending the application of this approach have been advanced by Edward Laws and others. With the evolution of endoscopic approaches, the natural expansion of their use to intradural lesions followed. For the expanded endonasal approach to become a viable option, the paramount concerns surrounding consistent reconstruction of the dura mater must be overcome. In this review the authors chronicle the evolution of the reconstruction technique they currently use after performing expanded endonasal approaches. They also report the use of a balloon stent to buttress the reconstruction and counter the effects of graft migration and cerebrospinal fluid fistula formation. The technique described in this report represents an important step forward in the reconstruction of defects resulting from expanded endonasal approaches.

Endoscopy↗