Skull Base Surgery

Skull base tumors are tumors in the skull base, the bottom part of the skull that the brain rests on. These tumors can be cancerous or benign (not cancer). Skull base tumors can be tricky to treat because they're often close to important areas of the brain. It takes skill and expertise to treat these tumors without damaging major nerves, blood vessels, or the brainstem. 

Skull Base Surgery at UVA Health

At UVA Health, we have the advanced tools and vast experience needed to treat tumors in this critical part of the brain. You can trust in our high level of accuracy. We have options to help you get the right care and avoid risky, stressful surgery. These procedures allow tumor removal with less damage to the brain.

High-Tech Operating Rooms 

During surgery, we don't want to make mistakes. Plus, we want to know exactly how you're doing. We use operating room monitors to constantly check your nervous system function. Real-time measurements of your facial nerves, auditory nerves, vocal cords, and sensory and motor nerves lowers surgery complications. 

Gamma Knife

Using lasers instead of knives, this high-tech tool pinpoints and destroys tumors in the skull. We use this for faster planning of complex tumors. Learn more about Gamma Knife.

Neurovascular Surgery

This approach uses stents to open blocked veins, relieve pressure in the brain, and normalize blood flow. Patients tend to experience almost instant relief. Find out about neurovascular surgery.