The aborted early history of the translabyrinthine approach: a victim of suppression or technical prematurity?

Objective: To ascertain the reasons translabyrinthine (TL) approach to acoustic neuroma, initially attempted in 1911, became relegated to obscurity for nearly half a century.

Study Design: A scholarly review of more than 40 publications in German and English from the late 19th to the mid-20th century.

Literature Summary: Surgeons who first contemplated approaching the cerebellopontine angle recognized that the shortest route from the surface was through the petrous bone.