• Francesco Carbone, Antonio Colamaria, Sergio Corvino, Matteo Sacco, Giorgio Iaconetta, Francesco Corrivetti, Domenico Di Maria, Giuseppe Catapano, Nicola Pio Fochi, Augusto Leone, Uwe Spetzger, and Matteo de Notaris.
• Department of Neurosurgery - Karlsruher Neurozentrum, Städtisches Klinikum Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Germany; Division of Neurosurgery, University of Foggia, Foggia, Italy.
• World Neurosurg. 2024 Feb 1; 182: e657e665e657-e665.

BackgroundOriginally adopted for the cytological screening of cervical and uterine cancer, contact endoscopy (CE) is now widely used in several fields of oncological surgery. The CE method, with magnification power up to 150x, was designed to enhance visualization and identify microscopic changes indicative of precancerous and cancerous lesions at early stages. In this pilot study, we evaluated the multimodal applications of CE during different endoscopic intracranial neurosurgical procedures.MethodsTwenty patients with skull base lesions underwent surgery using different minimally invasive endoscopic approaches (endonasal, transorbital, and supraorbital). CE was used to distinguish the pathology from the surrounding healthy tissue by positioning the endoscope either in proximity or directly onto the target tissue. Special attention was given to the visualization of the margins of the lesion to differentiate compression/displacement from infiltration of the normal surrounding tissue.ResultsWith its unprecedented range of magnification, CE could clearly identify the microvascular pattern and cytological architecture of a tissue not detectable by simple white light endoscopy, with no reported damage due to heat transmission or iatrogenic injuries. All the lesions diagnosed as "presumed neoplastic tissue" by CE were confirmed by histopathology. The most promising results were observed in surgeries for meningioma and pituitary adenoma, as these lesions exhibit distinctive microvascular networks.ConclusionsCE represents a new and effective technique for the in vivo identification of pathological microvascular and tissue features, allowing preservation of normal tissue during different endoscopic approaches. The use of CE could improve diagnostic accuracy and assist in intraoperative decision-making, becoming a key tool in various applications in neurosurgical field.Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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