Quantitative analysis of ipsilateral and contralateral supracerebellar infratentorial and occipital transtentorial approaches to the cisternal pulvinar: laboratory anatomical investigation
Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China; and
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Department of Neurosurgery, Irkutsk State Medical University, Irkutsk, Russia
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OBJECTIVE
The cisternal pulvinar is a challenging location for neurosurgery. Four approaches for reaching the pulvinar without cortical transgression are the ipsilateral supracerebellar infratentorial (iSCIT), contralateral supracerebellar infratentorial (cSCIT), ipsilateral occipital transtentorial (iOCTT), and contralateral occipital transtentorial/falcine (cOCTF) approaches. This study quantitatively compared these approaches in terms of surgical exposure and maneuverability.
METHODS
Each of the 4 approaches was performed in 4 cadaveric heads (8 specimens in total). A 6-sided anatomical polygonal region was configured over the cisternal pulvinar, defined by 6 reachable anatomical points in different vectors. Multiple polygons were subsequently formed to calculate the areas of exposure. The surgical freedom of each approach was calculated as the maximum allowable working area at the proximal end of a probe, with the distal end fixed at the posterior pole of the pulvinar. Areas of exposure, surgical freedom, and the working distance (surgical depth) of all approaches were compared.
RESULTS
No significant difference was found among the 4 different approaches with regard to the surgical depth, surgical freedom, or medial exposure area of the pulvinar. In the pairwise comparison, the cSCIT approach provided a significantly larger lateral exposure (39 ± 9.8 mm2) than iSCIT (19 ± 10.3 mm2, p < 0.01), iOCTT (19 ± 8.2 mm2, p < 0.01), and cOCTF (28 ± 7.3 mm2, p = 0.02) approaches. The total exposure area with a cSCIT approach (75 ± 23.1 mm2) was significantly larger than with iOCTT (43 ± 16.4 mm2, p < 0.01) and iSCIT (40 ± 20.2 mm2, p = 0.01) approaches (pairwise, p ≤ 0.01).
CONCLUSIONS
The cSCIT approach is preferable among the 4 compared approaches, demonstrating better exposure to the cisternal pulvinar than ipsilateral approaches and a larger lateral exposure than the cOCTF approach. Both contralateral approaches described (cSCIT and cOCTF) provided enhanced lateral exposure to the pulvinar, while the cOCTF provided a larger exposure to the lateral portion of the pulvinar than the iOCTT. Medial exposure and maneuverability did not differ among the approaches. A short tentorium may negatively impact an ipsilateral approach because the cingulate isthmus and parahippocampal gyrus tend to protrude, in which case they can obstruct access to the cisternal pulvinar ipsilaterally.
ABBREVIATIONS
BVR = basal vein of Rosenthal; cOCTF = contralateral occipital transtentorial/falcine; cSCIT = contralateral supracerebellar infratentorial; iOCTT = ipsilateral occipital transtentorial; IOV = internal occipital vein; iSCIT = ipsilateral supracerebellar infratentorial; OCTT = occipital transtentorial; PCA = posterior cerebral artery; SCIT = supracerebellar infratentorial.Artist’s rendering showing the trajectories for the ipsilateral supracerebellar infratentorial (iSCIT), contralateral supracerebellar infratentorial (cSCIT), ipsilateral occipital transtentorial (iOCTT), and contralateral occipital transtentorial/falcine (cOCTF) approaches to the pulvinar. Also shown is a cadaveric view of the pulvinar via the cSCIT approach (inset). Artist: K. Larson. Used with permission from Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, Arizona. See the article by Sun et al. (pp. 1172–1181).
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