Surgical Treatment of Craniopharyngiomas

By definition, craniopharyngiomas are benign tumors. These tumors are peculiar because they develop close to important neurovascular structures and are associated with neuroendocrine dysfunction. Standard or extensive transcranial or transsphenoidal surgery can be used to remove craniopharyngiomas. For patients with craniopharyngiomas, full excision via an open or endoscopic technique is the recommended course of action. The gross total resection procedure is difficult to carry out. For the removal of particularly large tumors, transcranial surgery is favored because it allows for the removal of the craniopharyngioma through many surgical ways. In reality, there are a variety of approaches that can be used, including an interhemispheric approach, a unilateral subfrontal approach, a bilateral subfrontal approach, all of the lateral frontotemporal approaches, including the pterional and the orbitozygomatic in all of their variations, and a posterior transpetrosal approach. For the removal of intra- and parasellar tumors through sphenoid sinus access, two well-known microsurgical techniques are the standard endoscopic transsphenoidal method and the extended transsphenoidal approach. To get a better and more thorough exposition of all anatomical structures suggested while attempting to achieve the greatest amount of excision, the surgical approach must be specifically adjusted to the patient’s and craniopharyngioma characteristics.