Abstract:Objective To analyze the clinical effect of subtotal petrosectomy for lesions of lateral skull base.Methods Clinical data of 78 patients who received subtotal petrosectomy from July 2007 to September 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. The 78 patients included 40 males and 38 females, with an average age of (37.3±14.1) years. Among them, there were 28 cases of petrous bone cholesteatoma, 20 of postoperative reinfection of chronic otitis media, 19 of temporal benign tumor and 11 of cerebrospinal fluid otorrhea. All patients underwent preoperative pure tone audiometry, computed tomography (CT) of temporal bone, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of inner ear and facial nerve function evaluation. Preoperative facial nerve function according to House-Brackmann (HB) grading system revealed grade Ⅰ in 25 cases, grade Ⅱ in 19, grade Ⅲ in 15, grade Ⅳ in 10, grade Ⅴ in 5, and grade Ⅵ in 4. There were 21 cases of total deafness on the affected side before operation, and the average hearing threshold of the other patients was 52.2 dB. During postoperative follow-up visit, CT of temporal bone and MRI of inner ear were performed and the function of facial nerve was evaluated.Results All the patients had been followed up for an average of 5.51 years. Surgical treatment was successfully performed in all the 78 patients, and there were no deaths and no severe complications such as intracranial hemorrhage, or cerebrospinal fluid otorrhea. Postoperative recurrence ocurred in 2 patients with petrous bone cholesteatoma and 2 with chronic otitis media reinfection, and got cured by reoperation. All the 19 patients with temporal benign tumors underwent total resection, and 9 of the 14 patients with facial schwannoma underwent facial nerve-hypoglossal nerve anastomosis. Postoperative evaluation of facial nerve function showed grade Ⅰ in 28 cases, grade Ⅱ in 20, grade Ⅲ in 17, grade Ⅳ in 7, grade Ⅴ in 2 and grade Ⅵ in 4. In all patients, functional hearing on the affected side was not retained after surgery.Conclusion Subtotal petrosectomy is suitable for extensive resection of petrous bone cholestatoma, chronic otitis media reinfection and temporal benign tumors, and it can also be used to repair and prevent cerebrospinal fluid otorrhea. Since this procedure cannot preserve or reconstruct hearing, it can only apply to patients with extensive skull base lesions without conditions for hearing reconstruction.