2008/05/01 by Lewis Z. Leng, Seth M. Brown, Vijay K. Anand +1 · 4 citations
Medicine · #Head and Neck Surgical Oncology #Meningioma and schwannoma management #Pituitary Gland Disorders and Treatments
paper · doi:10.1227/01.neu.0000326017.84315.1f
openalex publication_date 2008/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
OBJECTIVE: Transnasal endoscopic cranial base surgery is a novel minimal-access method for reaching the midline cranial base. Postoperative cerebrospinal fluid leak remains a persistent challenge. A new method for watertight closure of the anterior cranial base is presented. METHODS: To achieve watertight closure of the anterior cranial base, autologous fascia lata was used to create a "gasket seal" around a bone buttress, followed by application of a tissue sealant such as DuraSeal (Confluent Surgical, Inc., Waltham, MA). The gasket-seal closure was used to seal the anterior cranial base in a series of 10 patients with intradural surgery for suprasellar craniopharyngiomas (n = 5), planum meningiomas (n = 3), clival chordoma (n = 1), and recurrent iatrogenic cerebrospinal fluid leak (n = 1). Lumbar drains were placed intraoperatively in five patients and remained in place for 3 days postoperatively. RESULTS: After a mean follow-up period of 12 months, there were no cerebrospinal fluid leaks. CONCLUSION: The gasket-seal closure is an effective method for achieving watertight closure of the anterior cranial base after endoscopic intradural surgery.