Surgery for Tumors in and around the Jugular Foramen

Abstract

Surgical approaches for jugular foramen tumors and the surgical results were presented. Forty eight cases of the tumors (jugular foramen schwannoma 25, glomus tumor 4, etc.) were removed by the posterior transjugular approach developed by the author, in combination with other approaches.Results; There was no operative mortality. As to the functional outcomes of lower cranial nerves following surgical removal of 25 jugular foramen schwannomas, the 12th nerve function improved in 4 out of 7 patients who had dysfunction before the operation. In contrast, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th nerve function deteriorated after the operation in 28%, 24%, 12% and 4% of the patients, respectively. However, vocal cord plasty or feeding gastrostomy or thyroplasty was not necessary in any patients.In conclusion, the posterior transjugular approach is useful for the removal of the tumor. It is rare for the dysfunction of the 9th, 10th or 11th nerve to resolve after the tumor removal, although preoperative 12th nerve palsy can be improved by the tumor removal.