Anterior skull base surgery

Anterior craniofacial resection is now recognized as one of the best treatment for nasal and paranasal tumors involving the cribriform plate. This approach allows for a more oncologically sound en bloc tumor removal. Here we report 6 cases of anterior skull base surgery for malignant neoplasms. The mean age was 54.0 years ranging from 30 to 70. There were 5 men and 1 woman. The pathological diagnoses were as follows: squamous cell carcinoma (4), adenocarcinoma (1), and malignant melanoma (1). Three patients required free tissue transfer and anterior skull base was reconstructed using a pericranial flap in 3 patients. Four patients are alive without disease, and two died. Major complications occurred in 1 of 6 patients and that patient developed a cerebellar hemorrhage. Infectious complications occurred in 2 patients. There were no perioperative deaths. We concluded that craniofacial resection is an effective surgical treatment for nasal and paranasal tumors.