Obituary Acad. Prof. Dr. Vinko V. Dolenc 1940 ‐ 2025
It is with profound sadness that the Slovenian Neurosurgical Society announces the passing of Professor Vinko V. Dolenc, one of the giants in skull base and cavernous sinus microsurgery, on January 16, 2025 in his hometown Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Prof. Dolenc is recognized as a pioneer in the surgical treatment of cavernous sinus lesions, having developed surgical techniques that allow for direct microsurgical repair of intracavernous vascular lesions, and has subsequently been named as the Dolenc approach. His abundant clinical experience and results in this area were based on his own precedent and continuous anatomical laboratory studies since 1979. Extradural removal of the anterior clinoid process, unroofing of the optic canal, innovative dural splitting of the lateral wall of the cavernous sinus, haemostatic control of the cavernous sinus and carotid flow in the intracavern- ous space and petrous bone, and anatomical naming of the extradurally exposed triangles of the cavernous sinus are now part of the basic knowledge of modern approaches to central skull base lesions.
Professor Dolenc was born on June 29, 1940, in Sestrže near Ptuj, Slovenia. After completing his medical education at the University of Ljubljana in 1966, he went on to specialize in neurosurgery, earning both his MSc degree and specialist qualification in 1974, followed by his PhD in 1977. He was a regular professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana. He became a member of the Slovenian Academy of Art and Science in 1993. He is an honorary member of the World Academy of Neurosurgery since its establishment in 2005.
A FULL OBITUARY is available here and published in Acta Neurochirurgica.
[All News]