• Alfio Spina, Filippo Gagliardi, Michele Bailo, Nicola Boari, Anthony J Caputy, and Pietro Mortini.
• Department of Neurosurgery and Gamma Knife Radiosurgery, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Vita-Salute University, Milan, Italy. Electronic address: spina.alfio@hsr.it.
• World Neurosurg. 2016 Nov 1; 95: 457-463.

BackgroundSurgery of the third ventricle still represents a challenge in modern neurosurgery. To optimize the surgical planning, some aspects, related to ventricular anatomy, have to be taken into consideration. An operability score could represent a preoperative tool to evaluate these variables to choose a tailored surgical approach.MethodsWe compared the transcallosal transforaminal approach and the combined interhemispheric subcommissural translamina terminalis approach (CISTA) to the anterior part of the third ventricle, applying the operability score.ResultsCompared with the transcallosal transforaminal approach, the CISTA provides a statistically significant improvement in terms of depth of surgical field, surgical angle of attack, and maneuverability arc considering as 4 approach-related critical structures: the optic chiasm (P value: <0.0001, <0.0001, <0.0001, respectively), the anterior commissure (P value: <0.0001, <0.0001, <0.0001 respectively), the tuber cinereum (P value: <0.0001, 0.0224, 0.0173), and the interthalamic adhesion (P value: 0.2917, <0.0001, <0.0001 respectively).ConclusionsTumors originating from the anterosuperior part of the third ventricle can be easily approached through a transcallosal transforaminal route, whereas lesions arising from the anteroinferior portion of the third ventricle might be safely and effectively approached through the CISTA.Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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