Microsurgical treatment of lateral ventricle tumors:report of 29 cases

Objective To discuss the surgical strategy of lateral ventricular tumors according to the tumor origin.Methods A total of 29 patients underwent the surgery on lateral ventricle tumors at our hospital from 2002 to 2009 were retrospectively studied,including 15 patients via transcortical approach and 14 patients via transcallosal approach.Results Total resection was performed in 23 patients and subtotal resection in 6 patients.Pathological examination confirmed 14 cases of benign tumors,8 cases of low-grade gliomas,5 cases of high-grade gliomas and 2 cases of malignant tumors.The ratio of postoperative epilepsy in the transcortical group was significant higher than that in the transcallosal group.The mean follow-up period was 18.5 months and 58.62% of patients achieved good recovery.Conclusion The transcallosal approach is preferred for the surgery of lateral ventricular tumors.The transcortical approach is a better option for the patients with transependymal involvement,or large primary or secondary ventricular tumors.The tumors should be resected as much as possible.But for the tumor remnants which can not be resected by surgery,radiotherapy or/and chemotherapy is recommended.