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We present the case of a 34-year-old woman, who presented to our department with a 4 months history of dizziness, hearing loss, and tinnitus on the right side. MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan demonstrated a large extra-axial lesion, suggestive of a meningioma, with dural attachments to the petrosal bone surface and tentorium, closely related with the trigeminal, abducens, facial, vestibulocochlear, and lower cranial nerves in the right side. Treatment options were discussed with the patient, and surgical resection was selected to remove the lesion, and decompress the cranial nerves and brainstem. The surgery was performed with a patient in a semi-seated position with head placed in a flexed, nonrotated position. A right lateral suboccipital approach was performed, exposing the right transverse and sigmoid sinuses. After dura opening, microsurgical dissection was used to open the cisterna magna, and obtain cerebellum relaxation. That was followed by identification of cranial nerves VII-XII and then identification of the tumor itself. Tumor debulking was then performed with use of suction and ultrasonic aspirator. After extensive resection, the tumor margins were dissected away from brainstem, cerebellum, and cranial nerves. Finally, the tumor attachment to the tentorium was coagulated and cut and the tumor was completely removed. Postoperative MRI confirmed complete resection of the tumor. The patient was discharged on the 1st week after surgery, with no additional postoperative deficits or complications. The link to the video can be found at: https://youtu.be/aZ3jhZTAeAA .

Objective: Didactically describe the orbitozygomatic craniotomy made in three pieces., Method: This approach was performed, from 2002 to 2011, in 49 patients admitted at Beneficência Portuguesa of São Paulo Hospital., Results: Twenty-seven patients had vascular lesions and twenty-two suffered for intracranial skull base tumors. The vascular lesions varied from cavernous angiomas inside the mesencephalum, high bifurcation basilar tip aneurysms, superior cerebellar arteries aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations in the interpeduncular cistern. Skull base tumors as meningiomas, interpeduncular hamartomas and third ventricle floor gliomas were among the neoplastic lesions approached. We had no permanent injuries and minimal transient complications had occurred., Conclusion: It is a descriptive text, organized in the sequence of the main stages in which such a craniotomy is performed, describing in details the technique in which this group of evolutionarily authors came to accomplish the task.

This article intends to describe in a didactical and practical manner the suboccipital far-lateral craniotomy. This is then basically a descriptive text, divided according to the main stages involved in this procedure, and that describes with details how the authors currently perform this craniotomy.

This paper aims to describe the performance of the pretemporal craniotomy performed didactically from 2002 to 2012 in eighty patients. It is therefore a fundamentally descriptive text, organized in the sequence of the main stages in which such a craniotomy is performed, and describing in detail the technique with which this group of evolutionarily authors came to accomplish the task.