Outcomes of Open vs Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery in Patients 70 Years or Older.

Importance: The use of skull base surgery in patients 70 years or older is increasing, but its safety in this age group has not been evaluated to date.

Objectives: To describe outcomes in a cohort of patients 70 years or older undergoing skull base surgery and to evaluate whether age, type of disease process, and approach (endoscopic vs traditional open surgery) are associated with increased intraoperative and postoperative complications in this population.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This retrospective cohort study analyzed a population-based sample of 219 patients 70 years or older from a database of 1720 patients who underwent skull base surgery at University of North Carolina Hospitals, Chapel Hill, a tertiary referral center, between October 2007 and June 2017.