Natura abhorret a vacuo--use of fibrin glue as a filler and sealant in neurosurgical "dead spaces". Technical note.

Objective: The objective of this study is to report our experience and illustrate our technique in the use of fibrin glue in the treatment of post-operatory cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leaks and collections following different neurosurgical procedures.

Methods: In a 3-year period, 40 subjects underwent endoscopic endonasal approach for different sellar and skull base lesions (three tuberculum sellae meningiomas, six craniopharyngiomas, three Rathke's cleft cysts and 28 pituitary macroadenomas), in which an intraoperative CSF leakage was evident. In such subjects, the fibrin glue was used as a first step of the final phase of the procedure-i.

Extended endoscopic transsphenoidal approach for tuberculum sellae meningiomas.

Objective: Tuberculum sellae meningiomas are classically removed through several different surgical transcranial approaches, including the pterional transsylvian route. Recently, the indications for the transsphenoidal technique, traditionally proposed only for the treatment of intrasellar lesions, have been extended to include lesions located in the supra- and parasellar areas and, among them, tuberculum sellae meningiomas. We describe the surgical technique for the purely endoscopic endonasal variant of the extended transsphenoidal "low route" to tuberculum sellae meningiomas.

Extended endoscopic transsphenoidal approach for tuberculum sellae meningiomas.

Objective: Tuberculum sellae meningiomas are classically removed through several different surgical transcranial approaches, including the pterional transsylvian route. Recently, the indications for the transsphenoidal technique, traditionally proposed only for the treatment of intrasellar lesions, have been extended to include lesions located in the supra- and parasellar areas and, among them, tuberculum sellae meningiomas. We describe the surgical technique for the purely endoscopic endonasal variant of the extended transsphenoidal "low route" to tuberculum sellae meningiomas.

Dysphagia and dyspnea due to an anterior cervical osteophyte.

Hypertrophic anterior cervical osteophytes have been reported as a cause of dysphagia, with about 100 cases described in the literature; on the other hand, chronic or acute dyspnea due to edema of the laryngeal inlet or bilateral vocal cord adduction-fixation is rare. We report a 57-year-old patient with a 2-year history of dysphagia and episodic dyspnea, who suffered sudden, severe respiratory distress necessitating emergency tracheotomy. A voluminous anterior cervical osteophyte at the C5 level was diagnosed by computed tomography (CT) and barium swallow test and removed by an anterior approach to the cervical spine, with clinical remission.