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Stanford Health Care

Conditions Treated

Our Approach to Endoscopic Endonasal Surgery

This technique offers numerous potential advantages over traditional surgery, including direct access to tumors without the need to cut into the skull. Accessing a tumor via the endoscopic endonasal approach (also called EEA) also can eliminate the need to move the brain, vessels, or nerves.

Our goals are to minimize the risk of complications, produce the best possible results, and reduce recovery times.

Our doctors are among the most experienced endoscopic endonasal surgeons in the world. We have helped lead the development of this innovative technique for the removal of growths and abnormalities such as tumors near the base of the skull.

In addition, our team conducts research into new advances to ensure that we can offer patients the most advanced endoscopic endonasal treatment options, some not yet available anywhere else.

What We Offer You for Endoscopic Endonasal Surgery

  • Globally-recognized expertise in the Endoscopic Endonasal Approach to skull base surgery
  • Use of the endoscopic endonasal approach to treat conditions involving brain, pituitary, and skull base tumors.
  • Faster recovery with a less invasive, scarless approach to surgery
  • Team-based treatment planning that brings together specialists from neurosurgery, rhinology, neuroradiology, radiation oncology, neuropathology, and more
  • Comprehensive support services to help you with your specific symptoms and the challenges of this experience.
  • Assistance from our International Medical Services team to plan your travel and accommodations.

What Is Endoscopic Endonasal Surgery?

Endoscopic endonasal surgery is a minimally invasive technique that enables doctors to treat tumors and tissue damage near the brain or spine by using an endoscope (a thin tube with a light and camera) inserted through the nose and sinuses.

This can eliminate the need to make cuts in the skin or skull. As a result, when compared with traditional surgery, the endoscopic endonasal approach (also sometimes called EEA) can reduce the risk of complications, shorten recovery times, and improve outcomes.
 

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Endoscopic Endonasal Approach (EEA) to Skull Base
Play Video | 3:57
Endoscopic Endonasal Approach (EEA) to Skull Base
Endoscopic Endonasal Approach (EEA) to Skull Base

Conditions

Endoscopic endonasal surgery may be an option to treat a wide range of conditions involving tumors in critical areas at the base of the skull or top of the spine, including:

  • Acoustic Neuroma, non-cancerous benign tumors found at the skull base
  • Adenoid cystic carcinoma, which usually occurs in the head and neck but can also produce tumors in the brain
  • Aneurysm,  an abnormal widening or ballooning of the artery, increasing the risk for a rupture
  • Cholesterol Granuloma
  • Chondroma, a noncancerous tumor that grows in bones in the skull base or sinuses
  • Chondrosarcoma, a cancerous tumor that can grow in the skull base
  • Chordoma, a bone cancer found in the skull or spine
  • Craniopharyngioma, a noncancerous tumor, most common in children, that grows near the pituitary gland
  • Cushing’s disease, a pituitary tumor caused by high levels of the hormone cortisol
  • Meningioma of the skull base, the growth of a tumor in the protective linings of the brain and spinal cord
  • Nasopharyngeal carcinoma, the most common cancer in the nasopharynx (above the throat and behind the nose)
  • Olfactory neuroblastoma, a type of cancer in the upper nasal cavity
  • Optic nerve compression, pressure on the optic nerve caused by a tumor or other growth around the brain
  • Orbital inflammatory pseudotumor, a chronic condition marked by inflammation of the tissues that surround the eyes
  • Osteoma, a noncancerous bone growth in the brain
  • Osteosarcoma, the most common type of bone cancer
  • Pituitary adenoma, a growth or tumor (usually noncancerous) on the pituitary gland
  • Prolactinoma
  • Rathkes Cleft Cyst
  • Sinus tumor, a growth (usually noncancerous) in the sinus and nasal cavity
  • Squamous cell carcinoma, a skin cell cancer that can affect the nasal passages and other parts of the body

Surgeons also use the endoscopic endonasal approach (EEA) to treat:

  • Basilar invagination, where movement of a vertebra compresses the spinal cord and brain stem
  • Cerebrospinal fluid leak, where the protective cushion surrounding the brain and spine leaks, causing the brain to come into direct contact with the skull, resulting in headaches

In addition, EEA may be an option to treat sinus conditions such as:

Our Clinics

Brain and Spine Tumor Center at Stanford Neuroscience Health Center
In Palo Alto, our multispecialty teams treat cancerous and noncancerous spine and brain tumors with surgery, radiation therapy, and medication.
213 Quarry Road
 Palo Alto, CA 94304
Phone: 650-497-7777 Getting Here

RELATED CLINICS

875 Blake Wilbur Drive
 Palo Alto, CA 94304
Phone: 650-498-6000
Make An Appointment

To schedule an appointment, please call: 650-497-7777