• The Neurosurgery service incorporates this novel technique after testing the process previously in biomodels of the Navarrabiomed experimental Operating Room, within the framework of the Health Department's Teaching Plan

 
The Neurosurgery service of the University Hospital of Navarra (HUN), together with the Otolaryngology and Ophthalmology services of the same centre, have recently carried out two interventions to remove brain tumours using an endoscopic procedure through the eye socket, after making a small incision in the upper eyelid. This is a novel technique tested at Navarrabiomed's experimental operating theatre within the training activity of the Health Department's Teaching plan

This minimally invasive procedure offers several advantages over the traditional technique consisting of performing a craniotomy, since the possible complications associated with performing the latter are avoided, because the incision in the skin and the amount of skull bone that must be removed to access the lesion are much smaller. The technique also means a reduction in surgery time, less postoperative pain and a faster recovery for the patient.
 
The transorbital endoscopic approach, initially described by an American surgeon, is performed in very few centres in the world. In Spain, published interventions using this procedure have only been conducted at the Hospital Clinic de Barcelona. It is a technique that requires very specific training, often at international centres, as well as important coordination between the different surgical teams. Dr Idoya Zazpe, head of the Neurosurgery service of the HUN, recently took a course in Naples organized by the Italian Society of Neurosurgery and which was attended by the neurosurgeon with the most experience in this type of surgery, Dr Kong, from the Samsung Hospital in Seoul. 

The transorbital approach is indicated mainly in brain tumours at the base of the skull that invade the orbit or that are located behind the eye. The two operations carried out in the HUN took place on October 26 and November 9. The first case was a patient with a brain tumour that secondarily invaded the orbit and caused exoltaphs (protrusion or displacement of the eyeball). The second patient had undergone surgery nine years earlier on a tumour in the area using the classical technique, through an open approach via craniectomy. However, the tumour had recently reappeared, and a new intervention was necessary. Both patients, young women, progressed without complications after the intervention and were quickly discharged from hospital.
 

Further information:

• Full press release disclosed at www.navarra.es
• Activity and services of the Animal Hospital and experimental Operating Theatre