Tracing the dural tail with image-guided surgery.

OBJECTIVE

The extent of dural resection is important for preventing recurrence in meningioma management. An image-guidance assisted technique is described to perform adequate dural resection.

METHODS

A universal instrument adapter system for image-guidance was used to track the dural extension of the meningioma accurately.

RESULTS

The universal instrument adapter offers the surgeon the possibility to image-guide nearly any rigid instrument via the computed calibration method. In this way a surgical marking pen was used to chase and adequately mark the "dural tail".

DISCUSSION

Image-guidance systems can be used to avoid incomplete resection of the affected dura that may be responsible for tumour recurrence.