Keyhole Surgery of Pineal Area Tumors - Personal Experience in 22 Patients

BACKGROUND: Pineal area tumors are challenging for surgery due to their location. However, the removal of the lesion is critical for further treatment and survival of the patients MATERIAL AND METHODS: 22 patients with pineal area tumors were surgically treated via keyhole medial suboccipital craniotomy and supracerebellar midline approach All the patients were operated in the sitting position with the use of operating microscope and microsurgical technique. RESULTS: All patients survived surgery in a perfect condition, and no one patient worsened after surgery. No complications due to the sitting position were noted. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical removal of pineal area tumors via small suboccipital craniotomy is safe and with the use of microsurgical techniques the results of surgical treatment are excellent. The sitting position of the patients gives a better view to the surgeon. We did not observe any intraoperational complications due to the sitting position.