Abstract
Objective The vidian nerve can be accessed in transcranial approaches in carefully selected
patients to ensure its preservation and to serve as a landmark for sphenoid sinus
entry. This report is to review a technique, evaluate it in laboratory settings, and
present two illustrative cases.
Design The study involves cadaveric dissection and illustrative cases.
Setting The study conducted in a cadaveric dissection laboratory.
Participants The object of the study is one cadaveric head and two illustrative clinical cases.
Main Outcome Measures Two cases using this approach were illustrated, and a cadaver dissection was performed
in a step-by-step fashion.
Results: The vidian canal can be accessed by drilling the anterolateral triangle. Two illustrated
cases were presented; in one, the vidian nerve was used as part of a corridor to access
the sphenoid sinus for tumor delivery, and in the other, the technique was used to
find and preserve the vidian nerve during transcranial resection.
Conclusion Careful identification of the vidian canal in transcranial surgery is a beneficial
technique in carefully selected cases which allows identification of the nerve both
for its preservation in selected cases and to create the vidian–maxillary corridor
for tumor resection. Knowing the anatomy and pneumatization variants is important
in the surgical approach.
Keywords
vidian canal - meningioma - surgical approach - sphenoid sinus
