Endoscopic endonasal transcavernous approach for invasive corticotroph pituitary adenoma

Neurosurg Focus Video. 2020 Apr 1;2(2):V2. doi: 10.3171/2020.4.FocusVid.19949. eCollection 2020 Apr.

Abstract

This is a 37-year-old woman who presented with weight gain, a moon-shaped face, and muscle weakness for 4 months. Cushing's disease was confirmed after a series of diagnostic tests. MRI demonstrated a pituitary macroadenoma with right cavernous sinus invasion and encasement of the right ICA. An endoscopic endonasal approach was performed, and gross-total resection could be achieved without injury of the cranial nerves. The Cushing's syndrome improved gradually after the surgery. Histopathology revealed a corticotroph adenoma. In this surgical video, we demonstrate the strategies of tumor resection according to a surgical anatomy-based classification of the cavernous sinus from an endonasal perspective. The video can be found here: https://youtu.be/aNXFRdGfjpI.

Keywords: Cushing’s disease; endonasal endoscopic approach; pituitary adenoma; surgical video; transcavernous approach.