Minimally invasive microsurgery of the cerebral vessels running from the foramens of the base of the skull to the arachnoid space in between the cerebral hemispheres and lobes, represents a formidable challenge due to the sensitive nature of the brain that surrounds these vessels. For the same reason, minimally invasive microsurgery of cranial nerves and tumors in the skull base, represents a formidable challenge, especially since often the successful surgical treatment of these lesions requires not only the delicate approach of the skull base underneath the sensitive brain, but the very careful microsurgical detachment of these lesions from the surrounding brain vessels.
We investigate the anatomical relationships of structures in the normal skull base and subarachnoid space, as well as when the anatomy is distorted by disease. Our aim is to develop increasingly less invasive methods of approaching and treating lesions in the large brain arteries and veins, as well as in the skull base.
We also study the biology of skull base tumors, with a special emphasis on characterizing the association of the underlying molecular pathology with the untreated clinical course of these lesions. This evolving understanding of the biology of skull base tumors will help to predict the clinical course of these lesions on a more personalized basis, will possibly help to develop novel medical therapies as alternatives to surgery, and will help to identify lesions that could be treated with medical therapy or radiosurgery based on surgically taken biopsies.
* Primary focus: Endoscopic surgical technique, Operative skull base anatomy, Meningeomas and Neurinomas