Skull Base Division

The division of skull base surgery has been committed to academic excellence, technical innovation and training for more than two decades.

A heavy clinical volume at University of Cincinnati Medical Center, a fully equipped skull base dissection laboratory and a renowned faculty assure state-of-the-art treatment of tumors deep within the brain.

The division has expertise in confronting acoustic neuromas, meningiomas, pituitary adenomas, chordomas and the entire range of benign and malignant conditions affecting the nerves, bones and tissues of the skull base.

The use of frameless stereotactic guidance, neuroendoscopy, electrophysiologic monitoring and cortical mapping, stereotactic radiosurgery and intraoperative MRI minimizes morbidity while maximizing the effectiveness of surgical treatment.

A weekly neuro-oncology conference, also known as tumor board, brings together medical and radiation oncologists, neuroradiologists, otologists, head and neck surgeons, ophthalmologists, and neurosurgeons to establish the most appropriate treatment and to provide continuity of care long after treatment has been performed.

Residents’ exposure to skull base surgery, initially observational, becomes increasingly hands-on as their residencies progress and their skills develop.

In the academic realm, the Goodyear Microsurgery Laboratory provides the resources necessary to advance the field and to enable residents and fellows to hone their surgical skills.

Virtual surgery, wherein computer animation becomes part of the young surgeon’s education, is on the horizon. Plans are under way for the creation of a new laboratory that will supplant cadaver dissections as we know them by integrating, with computer animation, all technical surgical modalities. By electronically simulating real-life surgical situations, the virtual lab will enable residents to learn first-hand what can and cannot be done safely to a patient’s anatomy.