Objective: To evaluate the effect of curative effect of endonasal transsphenoidal approach for removal of pituitary neoplasms (PNs) assisted by neuroendoscopy.
Methods: Seventy-eight consecutive PNs patients with sellar mass causing compression of optic nerve and optic chiasm shown by MRI or CT underwent tumor removal via the endonasal transsphenoidal approach with the help of neuroendoscope.
Results: Total removal of tumor in 71 cases (91.0%) and subtotal removal in 5 cases (6.4%) were achieved. Partial removal was carried out in the remaining 2 cases (2.6%) with fibrous tumor. There was no postoperative death. Follow-up with a median of 3 months in 67 patients revealed that preoperative diminished acuity caused by optic nerve compression was recovered in 64 cases (95.5%), and improved in 3 cases (4.5%). Among the 62 patients with preoperative visual field defects, postoperative recovery was achieved in 60 cases (96.8%), and improvement in 2 cases (3.2%).
Conclusion: Endonasal transsphenoidal approach assisted by neuroendoscopy is an effective minimally invasive method for removing the PNs. Changing the angle of the endoscope intraoperatively helps removing the tumor safely and completely.