Reappraisal of Transpetrosal Approaches for Petroclival Meningiomas: A Consecutive Single-Institution Series

Background: Petroclival meningiomas (PCMs) represent one of the most difficult pathologies to treat with for neurosurgeons. Due to their deep location and complex relationships with cranial nerves (CN) and vessel, choosing the most appropriate strategy for each patient includes a profound thought process and clear surgical goals. While there is a trend toward a less aggressive surgical approach, favored by the increasing use of complementary treatment such as radiosurgery, transpetrosal approaches remain a valuable option for PCM which offer the advantage to expose both dural base and tumor. Here, we present our experience with transpetrosal approaches for the resection of large or giant PCMs.