title: Encountering a Basal Vein of Rosenthal Variant During the Anterior Transpetrosal Approach.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The basal vein of Rosenthal (BVR) is important in intracranial surgery, including skull base surgery. We report a case of petroclival meningioma in which a BVR variant drained into the tentorial sinus.
  
  
  METHODS
  An asymptomatic 62-year-old man was found to have a left petroclival meningioma during a routine examination. A "sliding-thin-slab" maximum intensity projection (MIP) was generated preoperatively using three-dimensional computed tomographic venography. It showed that the BVR variant drained into the free edge of the tentorium around the tumor. The tumor was removed via an anterior transpetrosal approach (ATPA); it was totally resected, and the vein was preserved with no detectable venous complications.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To our knowledge, this is the first study to describe surgery using the ATPA and involving a BVR variant, in which the vein was imaged successfully preoperatively using sliding-thin-slab MIP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address: pochisuke616@mac.com.
authors.forename: Shunsuke
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shibao
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Hirokazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fujiwara
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Clemens Hospital, Academic Hospital of Münster University, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Borghei-Razavi
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Kazunari
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yoshida
mesh_terms: D002550:Cerebral Veins / Q000002:abnormalities*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008577:Meningeal Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D008579:Meningioma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography
keywords: 3D-CTV; Anterior transpetrosal approach; Basal vein of Rosenthal; Maximum intensity projection