Use of sodium fluorescein in skull base tumors.
OBJECTIVE
The authors present this study using sodium fluorescein (SF) to enhance skull base tumors by performing a quantitative digital analysis of tumor enhancement. The purpose of this study is to observe the grade of SF enhancement by the tumors.


METHODS
A prospective experiment within-subjects study design was performed which included six patients with skull base lesions. Digital pictures were taken before and after the SF systemic injection, using the same light source of the microsurgical field. The pictures were analyzed by computer software which calculated the wavelength (WL) of the SF pre- and post-injection.


RESULTS
THE GROUP OF TUMORS WAS AS FOLLOWS: one vestibular schwannoma, three meningiomas, one craniopharyngioma and one pituitary adenoma. The SF enhancement in all tumors was strongly positive. The digital analysis of the pictures, considering the SF WL pre- and post-injection, presented P = 0.028 (Wilcoxon T test).


CONCLUSIONS
The enhancement of the tumors by SF was consistent and evident. The introductory results suggest the possibility of using SF as an adjuvant tool for the skull base surgery. Further studies should test the clinical application of the SF in skull base tumors.
Department of Neurosurgery and Skull Base Surgery, Hospital Ernesto Dornelles, Porto Alegre/RS, Brazil.
Carlos Eduardo
CE
da Silva
Jefferson Luis Braga
JL
da Silva
Vinicius Duval
VD
da Silva