On the Choice of Surgical Approaches for Removing Tumors of the Base of the Skull

Tumors of the base of skull which are serious diseases, where surgical operation is very big problem because location of these tumors very deep in the base of skull which can spread to cranium and damage dura mater and may cause liquorrhea. We tried to compare the possibilities of surgical approaches for advanced rhinotomy and Lauers-Balon in developing optimal treatment for various variants of tumor of the base of skull.

Base of Skull Metastatic Adenocarcinoma from the Breast 23 Years after the Primary Diagnosis

Breast cancer metastases to the base of the skull with concomitant infiltration into the paranasal sinuses and nasopharynx are exceptionally rare with only small numbers of reported literatures. Greenberg et al. in 1981 described five clinical syndromes with regards to the base of skull metastases and the clinical presentation of each syndrome related to its anatomical location. Often, metastases to the base of the skull remain asymptomatic until the lesion has increased to a considerable size causing bony destruction and impingement to the surrounding structures. When involving the paranasal sinuses or nasopharynx, the most common presenting symptoms mimic those of rhinosinusitis and, hence, may delay the accurate diagnosis. We are reporting a case of base of skull metastasis from breast carcinoma, 23 years after the primary diagnosis. To the best of our knowledge, our case is the first case to report latent metastasis of more than 20 years.