Years later, neuroendoscopy regained popularity due only to improvements in optical technology and the introduction of the rigid and flexible neuroendoscopes [16, 19, 20]. Today, neuroendoscopic techniques have further evolved, and the spectrum of intracranial pathologies treatable by modern neuro-endoscopic means continues to expand. Early reports have demonstrated endoscopic resection of intraventricular masses to be effective and safe [21, 22]. The large majority of data in the neurosurgical literature, however, originate from studies of endoscopic colloid cyst resection [11, 23, 24]. Data regarding endoscopic resection of other intraventricular tumors exist primarily in case reports and small series with insufficient sample size to draw meaningful conclusions.
The goal of this report is to review the relevant literature describing the endoscopic resection of intraventricular masses as a whole, both cystic and solid, to provide a better understanding of this technique’s virtues and limitations. 2. Materials and Methods Pubmed literature searches were performed using search terms ��(endoscop*) AND ventric*��, ��(endoscop*) AND tumor��, ��((neuro-endoscop*) OR neuroendoscop*) AND tumor��, and ��(tumor) AND ventric*��. Additional articles were located via cross-referencing of articles discovered initially through Pubmed searches. Articles included in the study were required to originate from peer-reviewed, English language journals describing the attempted resection (e.g., biopsies and cyst fenestrations without attempted resection were excluded) of an intraventricular tumor (e.
g., suprasellar neoplasms without intraventricular extension were excluded) by purely endoscopic means (e.g., ��endoscope-assisted�� microsurgical resections were excluded) through a single endoscope (��dual-port�� resections were excluded). Care was taken to exclude any redundant AV-951 patient data from the analysis, and five articles required exclusion from the study due to an inability to definitively distinguish study patients in these five articles from patients in other study articles by the same author. In these five cases, the earlier of the two conflicting publications was omitted. Selected articles were also required to report on one or more of the following variables: (1) estimated completeness of resection achieved, (2) radiographic recurrence rates, and/or (3) complications related to the procedure. Cases involving the use of stereotactic radiosurgery, chemotherapy, or other nonsurgical treatment adjuncts were included. Two hundred and twenty articles were reviewed, and 40 were selected based on the above criteria.