Retractorless Surgery for Giant Vestibular Schwannomas via the Retrosigmoid Approach

A fixed retractor is routinely used during surgery for vestibular schwannoma to maintain the surgical corridor; however, brain injuries can be caused by use of retractors. The aim of this study was to present strategies for retractorless surgery for giant vestibular schwannomas and compare retractorless surgery with traditional retractor-assisted surgery to illustrate feasibility and potentially superiority of retractorless surgery.Clinical data of 61 patients with giant (≥4 cm diameter) vestibular schwannomas undergoing craniotomy were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were divided into 2 cohorts: 1) 35 patients with traditional retractor surgery performed between June 2016 and July 2017; 2) 26 patients with retractorless surgery performed between June 2016 and July 2018. Duration of operation, intraoperative blood loss, extent of resection, rate of retention of facial nerve function, postoperative brain injury rate, intracranial infection rate, hospitalization time, and grade of facial nerve function were compared between the 2 groups.The incidence of postoperative brain injury was 3.84% in the retractorless surgery group, which was significantly lower compared with the traditional retractor surgery group (22.86%) (P0.05). No significant differences were found regarding the other characteristics compared.Through appropriate comprehensive measures, retractorless surgery for giant vestibular schwannomas is an achievable goal. This procedure can reduce the incidence of postoperative brain injury with satisfactory tumor resection.