Skull base surgery at Leeds Hospital

What is skull base surgery?

Skull base surgery treats tumours and other conditions found at the base of your skull, the bony area beneath your brain where important nerves and blood vessels pass through. Because this area is difficult to reach and sits close to delicate structures, it's usually carried out by a team of specialists working together, rather than by a single surgeon.

What conditions does skull base surgery treat?

Skull base conditions are rare, but teams that specialise in this area treat a range of growths and other problems, including:

• Vestibular schwannoma, also called an acoustic neuroma (a growth on the nerve connecting your ear to your brain)
• Meningiomas (growths that develop in the layers covering the brain) at the base of the skull
• Paragangliomas (growths near blood vessels and nerves) in the neck and skull base
• Other rarer tumours and cysts affecting the nerves, bone or lining around this area, such as chondrosarcomas, chordomas and epidermoids
• Encephalocele (when brain tissue pushes through a gap in the skull) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks, where fluid surrounding your brain and spinal cord leaks out, often through your nose
• Long-term, or chronic, infections in this area.

Are there different types of skull base surgery?

Your surgical team may describe your operation as either intradural or extradural. This depends on whether the problem being treated is inside or outside the dura, the tough membrane that covers your brain.

Conditions can also sit at the side (lateral) or front (anterior) of the skull base. Where your condition is found, and whether it involves the dura, helps determine which specific surgical approach your team recommends.

What happens before skull base surgery?

Before skull base surgery, your case is reviewed by a multidisciplinary team, a group of specialists from different fields who meet regularly to discuss patients like you. They'll need a scan, such as an MRI, to help plan your care.

Not everyone needs treatment at a specialist centre. Some skull base conditions can be managed at your local hospital, while others need the specific expertise of a regional neuroscience centre.

What does recovery from skull base surgery look like?

During your stay for skull base surgery, you're looked after by a team of health professionals who plan your investigations and treatment carefully. If you were treated at a specialist centre away from home, you may be transferred back to your local hospital afterwards, sometimes called repatriation.

Once you're back at your local hospital, the team there can continue your care, support your rehabilitation, and plan your discharge, so you can go home safely once you're ready.