Preface

It takes at least ten years to be a qualified otologist or lateral skull base surgeon，so the surgical training needs to start from the very beginning. After 3-5 years’ comprehensive training of general otolaryngology (including 6 months to 1 year focused on neurosurgery)，an additional 3-5 years is required for those who are interested in the subspecialty of otology. Through surgery observation，dissection training and clinical practices，theoretical knowledge can be strengthened while surgical skills can be enhanced.

Although good command of middle ear anatomy guarantees the ear surgery，it is far from enough for lateral skull base surgery. It should extend to inner ear and petrous apex: remove entire bone structures with facial nerve integrity；expose the internal carotid artery，internal jugular vein，lower cranial nerves until reaching the lateral skull base and temporal bone. For mastering the structure of jugular foramen and cerebellopontine angle，regular anatomical training is needed during the whole career.

Covering various commonly used approaches，this book serves as a manual of temporal bone and lateral skull base dissection. Hope it will be helpful and beneficial to young beginners.

My gratitude goes to the Professor Yunzhang Liu for his precursory work；to Dr. Qi Huang，Dr. Jun Yang and Dr. Zhaoyan Wang for their contribution and clinical assistances to this book；and to my student Dr. Yan Huang for her magnificent illustrations.

I sincerely invite all colleagues to offer their suggestions and comments for future revision.