The discipline of Neurosurgery focused on the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) treats different types of intracranial tumors in adults and children.
Neurotology combines Otology with clinical Neurology and Neurosurgery. This discipline is specialized in the relationship between the auditory system and the nervous system—for instance, in the diagnosis and treatment of a tumor in the skull base (vestibular schwannoma, meningioma) or of the inner ear (cholesteatoma, cochlear implantation).
The Otorhinolaryngology (ENT) specialty treats diseases of the head and neck. In particular, it focuses on the ear, nose and sinuses, throat, salivary glands, and thyroid.
Skull base surgeries are complex and the use of an intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring device is essential due to the presence of cranial nerves. The stimulation probe transmits electrical energy to help locate a nerve through a layer of tissue or assess the functionality of a targeted nerve.
Monitoring muscle signals helps in, for instance, limiting the risk of facial paralysis or vocal cords paralysis, locating the facial nerve during parotidectomy or resection of an acoustic neuroma. And stimulating a recurrent nerve during a thyroidectomy or para-thyroidectomy.
