Cavernoma of the left ventral striatum, anatomical and microsurgical implications of the ipsilateral transcallosal transrostral pathway.

BACKGROUND: Cerebral cavernous malformations are vascular abnormalities of the central nervous system with an incidence of 0.4-0.5% and an annual hemorrhage rate ranging from 0.7% to 1%. The most important and consistent risk factor for rebleeding is a prior hemorrhage, and deep lesions (within the thalamus, basal ganglia, and brainstem) characteristically carry a worse prognosis regarding annual hemorrhage rates (10.6% per patient per year vs 0.4% per patient per year for superficial cerebral lesions) and subsequent neurologic deterioration. The ventral striatum is a difficult region to approach. The conservative treatment and also radiosurgery are not compatible with this kind of lesion, in the virtue of the eloquence and high risk of rebleeding, and the worsening of the perilesional edema, respectively, resulting in a motor deficit.

CASE DESCRIPTION: This video presents a case of a 37-year-old male patient with a 6-month history of headaches, with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showing a lesion in the left ventral striatum compatible with cavernoma with signs of recent bleeding. The patient underwent an ipsilateral transcallosal transrostral approach. The procedure was uneventful, and the patient was discharged without neurological deficits. A postoperative MRI confirmed complete resection.

CONCLUSION: The anatomical aspects to consider are analyzed as the dissection progresses toward the lesion, and the other surgical alternatives are studied in this video. The ipsilateral transcallosal transrostral pathway permits an intuitive awareness of the midline at all times, facilitating safer manipulation of the brain tissue when accessing deep-seated lesions. Consequently, the risk of intraoperative and postoperative complications decreases.