[Prevention and management of complications of endoscopic surgery for nasal-skull base neoplasms].
OBJECTIVE
To analyze the surgical complications of endoscopic nasal-skull base surgery. The secondary objective was to propose the preliminary strategies for prevention and treatment of complications.


METHODS
One hundred and thirty two patients with nasal-skull base tumors undergoing endoscopic or endoscope-assisted surgery were included in this study. Surgical approaches included endoscopic endonasal transethmoidal approaches, endoscopic endonasal transseptal transsphenoidal approach, extended endoscopic endonasal transseptal transsphenoidal approach, endoscopic transmaxillary posttrial wall approach, extended endoscopic transmaxillary posttrial wall approach, endoscopic nasal lateral wall dissection, maxillary osteotomy approach and endoscopic transoropharyngeal approach. These approaches were selectively used to resect the tumors in the area of nasal-skull base.


RESULTS
The total resection of the tumors was obtained in 104 patients (104/132, 78.8%), with 29.5% (39/132) incidence of complications, including profuse bleeding, nerve injury, cerebrospinal fluid leakage, diabetes insipidus, electrolyte imbalance, hyperglycemia, and psychological disturbance. No catastrophic complications, sequelae and operative mortality encountered. Four months to 8 years' follow up (median 3.0 years) indicated that recurrence rate of the benign tumor was 9% (9/100) without died case, and 3-year and 5-year survival rates of the malignant tumor were 75.0% and 55.6%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Strategies proved to be effective in reduction of the overall incidence of the complications, especially in minimizing the catastrophic complications and sequelae. The strategies were as follows: first, according to original site, extension and characteristics of the tumor, designing appropriate endoscopic approaches for the treatment of skull base tumor; second, recognizing reliable surgical access points and safe plane of the dissection; third, predicting surgical risks preoperatively and proposing the corresponding plan to avoid these risks; fourth, acquainted with the endoscopic skills and familiarized the skull base structures; lastly, ensuring the correct management of the interdisciplinary problems with close collaboration with the interdisciplinary medical personnels.
Jiang
Wei-Hong
WH
Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery of Xiangya Hospital, 410008 Changsha, China.
Xie
Zhi-Hai
ZH
Xiao
Jian-Yun
JY
Zhang
Hua
H
Zhao
Su-Ping
SP
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007431:Intraoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009669:Nose Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019292:Skull Base Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult