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Object. The goal of this study was to determine whether drilling out the occipital condyle facilitates surgery via the far-lateral approach by comparing data from 10 clinical cases with that from studies of eight cadaver heads.

Methods. During the last 6 years at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center—Shreveport, 10 patients underwent surgery via the far-lateral approach to the foramen magnum. Six of these patients harbored anterior foramen magnum meningiomas, one patient a dermoid cyst, two patients vertebral artery (VA) aneurysms, and an additional patient suffered from rheumatoid disease of the craniocervical junction. The surgical approach consisted of retromastoid craniectomy and C-1 laminectomy.

The seven tumors and the pannus of rheumatoid disease were completely excised, and the two aneurysms were clipped without drilling the …