Objective: To evaluate the impact of the open and endoscopic skull base surgery performed by the same team on patients' quality of life.
Design: Retrospective survey.
Setting: University-affiliated medical center.
Patients: The study included 78 patients who underwent surgery for removal of skull base neoplasms through an expanded endoscopic (n = 41) or a subcranial (n = 37) approach.
Main outcome measure: A multidimensional, disease-specific questionnaire with 36 items was used. Six relevant domains of QOL were assessed: role of performance, physical functioning, vitality, pain, specific symptoms, and impact on emotions.
Results: There were no significant clinical or demographic differences between the 2 study groups (P > .06). Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that patients who underwent endoscopic surgery reported significantly better scores in the physical function and impact on emotions domains than the patients who underwent subcranial surgery (P < .04). Analysis of the minimal clinically important difference revealed that these differences were clinically significant.
Conclusion: In certain domains, quality of life after endoscopic skull base surgery appears to be better than that after open approaches.