Ventral surgical approaches to craniovertebral junction chordomas.

BACKGROUND

Chordomas are primarily malignant tumors encountered at either end of the neural axis; the craniovertebral junction and the sacrococcygeal junction. In this article, we discuss the surgical management of craniovertebral junction chordomas.

OBJECTIVE

In this paper, we discuss the surgical management of craniovertebral junction chordomas.

RESULTS

The following approaches are illustrated: transoral-transpalatopharyngeal approach, high anterior cervical retropharyngeal approach, endoscopic transoral approach, and endoscopic transnasal approach. No single operative approach can be used for all craniovertebral chordomas. Therefore, the location of the tumor dictates which approach or approaches should be used.