Colour Atlas of Micro-Oto-Neurosurgical Procedures

Modern microsurgical techniques have opened up a new horizon for the otoneurosurgeon. This volume is a very important contribu- tion to the student who is learning these surgical approaches. Surgical otoneurology has now passed the infancy stage, but is still an adolescent. As more otologists and neurosurgeons become skilled in this type of surgery, new and better approaches will evolve. Certainly there needs to be much better management of the carotid artery as it passes through the temporal bone. Better techniques to preserve the IX, X, and XI nerves in the jugular bulb area should be developed, and more delicate procedures for management of lesions inside the cochlea and vestibular labyrinth should be developed. As our diagnostic techniques have improved, particularly through imaging, surgical techniques to match the improved diagnostic techniques will emerge. For future otoneurologists who are pre- pared, many problems involving the temporal bone that are now considered untreatable will be successfully managed for very grateful patients. The purpose of this text is to familiarize the otoneurosur- geon with the anatomy of the temporal bone, skull base, infratem- poral fossa, and cerebellopontine angle. This anatomy will be taught by demonstrating surgical procedures. This atlas which is an example of cooperation between the schools of Los Angeles and Verona will permit the reader to rehearse otoneurosurgical procedures in the laboratory, and, when the techniques have been mastered, apply the various approaches in the treatment of inner ear and skull base lesions. William F. House MD.