Summary
The dorsolateral, suboccipital, transcondylar technique was used in this cadaveric study. The angle and distance measurements in the corridors were taken intradurally both superior and inferior of the foramen magnum level. In the first stage of this study, the findings which were gained from the standard lateral suboccipital approach were compared with the findings after condyle and lateral atlantal mass removal. After condylectomy, the approach to anterior foramen magnum via both corridors was found to be shorter and the lateral angle of the exposure of the anterior foramen magnum was found to be wider. The considerable shortening of the distances to the anterior foramen magnum, especially in the superior corridor, emphasises the necessity of combining standard approaches with condylectomy. In addition, it was found that after condylectomy, considerable widening of both transverse and longitudinal planes in the inferior corridor allows the surgeon greater access to work on lesions. Furthermore, the freed space between the superior corridor and the inferior corridor, which was gained by condylectomy, shows that condylectomy provides a combined approach to the inferior and superior parts of the foramen magnum anteriorly.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Al-Mefty O, Fox JL, Smith RR (1988) Petrosal approach for petroclival meningiomas. Neurosurgery 22: 510–517
Babu RP, Sekhar LN, Wright DC (1994) Extreme lateral transcondylar approach: technical improvements and lessons learned. J Neurosurg 81: 49–59
Baldwin HZ, Miller CG, Spetzler RFet al (1994) The far lateral/combined supra- and infratentorial approach. J Neurosurg 81: 60–68
Bertalanffy H, Seeger W (1991) The dorsolateral suboccipital transcondylar approach to the lower clivus and anterior portion of the craniocervical junction. Neurosurgery 29: 815–821
Crumley RL, Gutin PH (1989) Surgical access for clivus cordoma. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 115: 295–301
George B, Dematons C, Cophignon J (1988) Lateral approach to the anterior portion of the foramen magnum. Surg Neurol 29: 484–490
Heros RC (1986) Lateral suboccipital approach for vertebral and vertebrobasilar artery lesions. J Neurosurg 64: 559–562
Heros RC (1991) The far lateral inferior suboccipital approach. In: Wilkins RH, Rengacherary SS (eds) Neurosurgery update. McGraw-Hill, New York, pp 106–109
Meyer FB, Ebersold MJ, Reese DF (1984) Benign tumors of the foramen magnum. J Neurosurg 61: 136–142
Miller CG, Van Loveren HR, Keller JTet al (1993) Transpetrosal approach: surgical anatomy and technique. Neurosurgery 33: 461–469
Miller E, Crockard HA (1987) Transoral transclival removal of anteriorly placed meningiomas at the foramen magnum. Neurosurgery 20: 966–968
Lang DA, Neil-Dwyer G, Iannotti F (1993) The suboccipital transcondylar approach to the clivus and cranio-cervical junction for ventrally placed pathology at and above the foramen magnum. Acta Neurochir (Wien) 125: 132–137
Samii M, Draf W (1989) Lateral suboccipital approach to the clivus. In: Samii M, Draf W (eds) Surgery of the skull base. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York Tokyo, pp 443–449
Sen CN, Sekhar LN (1990) An extreme lateral approach to intradural lesions of the cervical spine and foramen magnum. Neurosurgery 27: 197–204
Sen CN, Sekhar LN (1991) Surgical management of anteriorly placed lesions at the craniocervical junction—an alternative approach. Acta Neurochir (Wien) 108: 70–77
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Açikbaş, S.C., Tuncer, R., Demirez, I. et al. The effect of condylectomy on extreme lateral transcondylar approach to the anterior foramen magnum. Acta Neurochir 139, 546–550 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02750998
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02750998