Microsurgery of Cerebral Lesions under Stereotactic Conditions

Abstract

Microsurgical excision of cerebral lesions was carried out under CT-guided stereotactic conditions. For lesions located in critical cortical areas, cerebral teleangiography under stereotactic conditions provided the coordinates of the vascular elements related to the structures and adjacent to the lesion without X-ray distortion. Small size cortical and subcortical lesions were targeted using the stereotactic biopsy probe as a guide. In twenty-four patients stereotactic microsurgery was used for following lesions: 8 cavernomas, 8 metastases, 7 gliomas, and 1 tuberculoma. Unpredictable permanent neurological complications did not occur, but predicted transient impairment after surgery in functional territories was tolerated with the complete removal of the lesion. The advantages of microsurgery using stereotactic coordinates are: precise knowledge of the location of brain structures and exact targeting of intracerebral lesions, better evaluation of surgical risks, easy spatial orientation, and minimization of the surgical damage to the healthy brain tissue.

Key words

Stereotactic microsurgery - Brain tumors - Vascular malformations - Cerebral mass lesions - Metastases