The Multidisciplinary Minimally Invasive Skull Base Surgery Unit: An Example of a Transversal Collaboration to Improve the Patient's Care Path

Introduction : During the past decades, skull base surgery has emerged as a specific neurosurgical supra specialty because of the binding cooperation of different specialists including neurosurgeons, maxillofacial surgeons, ENT surgeons as well as endocrinologists and neuroophthalmologists. In addition to the recent development of minimally invasive techniques (endoscopic surgery, neuronavigation) that considerably improved functional and oncological outcomes, patients benefit from the collaborative efforts of multiple specialists within a same functional unit. We review the influence of this teamwork in the optimization of the care path of patients harboring complex skull base pathologies. Methods : The authors assessed their recent experience in the multidisciplinary management of patients with skull base pathologies. Biomedical databases were searched for publications with the keywords “multidisciplinary,” “skull base surgery,” “neurosurgery,” “minimally invasive,” and “teamwork.” Results : The paucity of the literature on this topic reflects the difficulty in establishing such coherent and organized teamwork. Such a functional unit requires cohesion, multispecialist common outpatient clinics, horizontal research topics, and liaising meetings for complex pathologies. Conclusion : The setting of our minimally invasive skull base surgery unit emphasizes on the necessity of teamwork for the improvement of the care path and consequently functional outcomes.