Lateral skull base surgical approach and neuroendoscope in lateral skull base surgery

Due to the deep anatomical location which is adjacent to the important organization, the operation on the diseases of lateral skull base area is still a challenging problem for neurosurgeons. This article briefly describes the history of the lateral skull base surgical approaches, advantages and disadvantages of each approach, indication and relative contraindication, and enumerates the application of neuroendoscope in the corresponding area, so as to offer help to choose the appropriate surgical approach according to the clinical characteristics; the application prospect of neuroendoscope in the relevant regions is discussed. Key words: Lateral skull base; Surgical approach; Neuroendoscope