Skull base surgery: combined results of treatment of malignant disease.

Skull base surgery is a team effort. Its evolution has progressed over a 75-year span. In former times patients were condemned to death by virtue of criteria of inoperability established as the result of artificial barriers resulting from a lack of understanding of the anatomy and physiology of adjacent areas that were the domain of another surgical specialist. Many of these patients now have a reasonable chance for cure. In today's atmosphere of aerce acrimony over turf battles between specialists, the vexing problems created by the intrusion of third-party payors and government into the everyday practice of medicine, the issues of hospital politics, and the ever-threatening dark cloud of medical malpractice, it is refreshing to be a part of a team of disparate specialists and paramedical personnel cooperating in a unified effort for the good of the patient.