gms | German Medical Science

59th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)
3rd Joint Meeting with the Italian Neurosurgical Society (SINch)

German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

1 - 4 June 2008, Würzburg

Historical evolution of the surgery of the cerebellopontine angle and the petroclival region

Historische Aspekte der Chirurgie des Kleinhirnbrückenwinkels und der petroklivalen Region

Meeting Abstract

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  • corresponding author M. Tatagiba - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Universitätsklinikum Tübingen
  • A. Galdino - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Universitätsklinikum Tübingen

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. Società Italiana di Neurochirurgia. 59. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie e.V. (DGNC), 3. Joint Meeting mit der Italienischen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (SINch). Würzburg, 01.-04.06.2008. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2008. DocMI.04.06

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dgnc2008/08dgnc232.shtml

Published: May 30, 2008

© 2008 Tatagiba et al.
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Outline

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Objective: To describe the major historical events that marked the development of the surgery of the posterior fossa, with special attention to the area of the cerebellopontine angle and the petroclival region.

Methods: A thorough research of the international literature was done. Old articles were compared with more recent data in order to achieve accuracy.

Results: The first description of a tumor of the cerebellopontine angle was done by the anatomist Eduard Sandifort from Leyden in 1777, and this was probably a meningioma. But it was not until 1902 that the term “cerebellopontine angle” (CPA) was introduced by Henneberg and Max Koch. The first attempt to operate a CPA tumor was done by Ernst von Bergmann from Berlin in 1890, but the patient did not survive the surgery. The first successful operation is ascribed to Sir Charles Balance from England, who successfully remove a CPA tumor in 1894.

Conclusions: The history of the surgery of the CPA is a recent one. From the first attempt of tumor removal until the modern era of microsurgery not more than 120 years have passed. The enormous difficulties posed by the beginning of the last century, and the achievements made by the pioneers have made this enterprise a rich source of lessons, from which the today’s generation of neurosurgeons can greatly profit.