[Surgery for meningioma of the posterior skull base. 135 cases. Choice of approach and results].

One hundred and thirty-five patients with posterior skull base meningiomas were seen and treated by a neurosurgical-neurotological team over the last 12 years. Ten tumors were "true" clival meningiomas and 125 were posterior petrous meningiomas: 25 were located anterior to the internal auditory meatus (IAM) (zone A); 29 were located around the IAM (zone M) and 18 were posterior to the IAM (zone P). 53 tumors had a larger zone of implantation and are accordingly called AM (31 cases), MP (15 cases), AMP (7 cases). The choice of routes was guided by a radiological anatomy classification system (17). Transpetrous approaches, alone or in combination with subtemporal transtentorial or retrosigmoid approaches were the surgical routes of choice for posterior petrous meningiomas, making it possible to reach the tumoral osteodural implantation, reduce the tumoral mass and perform a subarachnoidal dissection of the tumor poles. A retrolabyrinthine (RL) approach allows access to zone P and a translabyrinthine approach to zone MP. Zones A, M and P can be reached via the anterior extended translabyrinthine (AETL) approach. Anterolateral transclival approaches with apex petrectomy were used to reach the clival meningiomas with a wide implantation zone. Standard microsurgical techniques were used in 32 cases and 103 procedures included the use of a microscope-guided laser. Complete tumor removal was accomplished in 88% of cases (120/135). Overall mortality was 3.7% (2 cases at 30 days and 3 cases between 31 days and 1 year).