Craniofacial resection for lesions involving anterior base of skull

Craniofacial resection represents a major advance in the surgical treatment of tumours of the paranasal sinuses. It allows wide exposure of the complex anatomical structures at the base of skull permitting monobloc tumour resection. The development of computerised tomography has improved patient selection for surgery. The present study analyses results of craniofacial resection in 30 patients, 19 of whom had malignant tumours. Fourteen of these cases are disease-free after periods of 6 to 36 months. Eleven other patients had extensive benign lesions. A satisfactory reduction of proptosis and relief from other symptoms was obtained in all cases in the benign group. Craniofacial resection was thus found to give excellent results with low morbidity in malignant lesions and can also be adapted for benign tumours of anterior skull base.