OPERATIVE APPROACHES TO THE PINEAL REGION TUMORS

Until the introduction of microsurgery, the surgical treatment of pine al region tumors had very poor results with high mortality and morbidi ty. However, there have been remarkable improvements with modern surgi cal technology and advanced knowledge. Now the main surgical approache s to pineal region tumors are the occipital transtentorial approach an d the infratentorial supracerebellar approach. Recently the neuroendos copic approach has been added. The surgical approach and any supplemen tary treatment should be selected in each case according to the nature of the individual tumor. The forms of treatment practiced by ourselve s, including neuroendoscopic surgery, are presented, and the surgical treatments now applied are discussed.