Otolaryngology (ENT)/Head and Neck Surgery

At the Comprehensive Skull Base Clinic at Mayo Clinic's campus in Rochester, Minnesota, people who have noncancerous (benign) and cancerous (malignant) conditions involving the skull base are evaluated and treated by a multidisciplinary team of experts.

Tumors of the skull base can affect many areas, including the region of the sinus and nose, the eye, the upper neck, and the side of the skull including the region near the ear and brainstem.

Tumors and other conditions involving the skull base that are commonly evaluated in the Comprehensive Skull Base Clinic include:

• Acoustic neuroma (vestibular schwannoma)
• Adenocarcinoma
• Basal cell carcinoma
• Brain hernia (encephalocele)
• Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak
• Chondrosarcoma
• Chordoma
• Esthesioneuroblastoma
• Facial nerve schwannoma
• Inverting papilloma
• Juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma
• Meningioma
• Pituitary adenoma
• Rathke's cleft cyst
• Schwannomas involving other cranial nerves
• Squamous cell carcinoma
• Tumors involving the eye

Your treatment team

Your treatment team includes an otolaryngologic surgeon who collaborates with specialists in neurology, neurosurgery, neuroradiology, radiation oncology, oncology and others as needed to develop an individualized treatment plan to meet your needs. Complex cases are reviewed by a large, multidisciplinary skull base tumor board. You receive comprehensive care for the diagnosis and treatment of your condition, with access to in-depth counseling, unbiased review of all available treatment options, follow-up care and rehabilitation.

Innovation in diagnosis and treatment

At the Comprehensive Skull Base Clinic, doctors use the latest technology and techniques to treat tumors and other conditions of the skull base. Treatment may include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, reconstructive surgery, rehabilitation or a combination of these approaches. For some people with benign tumors, treatment may be simple tumor observation with repeat MRIs over time. Each person's treatment plan may vary significantly depending on the type of condition, symptoms, size, location and personal preferences.

• Surgery. The skull base surgical team is skilled in the full breadth of minimally invasive endoscopic surgery and microsurgery.
• Radiation therapy. Mayo Clinic offers a full array of all possible radiation treatment strategies, including intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), brain stereotactic radiosurgery and proton therapy. Your doctor works with radiation oncologists and surgeons to offer the most effective and minimally invasive radiation treatment plan according to your needs.
• Chemotherapy. Chemotherapy uses medications to treat cancerous tumors. In many cases chemotherapy is combined with surgery and radiation for treatment of more aggressive types of diseases.

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