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Updated: Apr 29, 2026
Endoscopic Endonasal Trans-sphenoidal Approach: Minimally Invasive Surgery for Pituitary Adenomas
Published on: January 17, 2018
Endoscopic transnasal approach for removing pituitary tumors
Mirian Cabral Moreira de Castro1, Luciane Maria Pereira Michel2, Mariana Moreira de Castro Denaro1
1Departamento de Otorrinolaringologia, Hospital da Santa Casa de Belo Horizonte, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
Unlabelled:
To describe a series of 129 consecutive patients submitted to the resection of pituitary tumors using the endoscopic transsphenoidal approach in a public medical center.
Method:
Retrospective analysis based on the records of patients submitted to the resection of a pituitary tumor through the endoscopic transsphenoidal approach between 2004 and 2009.
Results:
One hundred and twenty-nine records were analyzed. The tumor was non-secreting in 96 (74.42%) and secreting in 33 patients (22.58%). Out of the secretory tumors, the most prevalent was the growth hormone producer (7.65%), followed by the prolactinoma, (6.98%). Eleven patients developed cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) fistulas, and four of them developed meningitis. One patient died due to intracerebral hemorrhage in the postoperative period.
Conclusion:
The endoscopic transsphenoidal approach to sellar tumors proved to be safe when the majority of the tumors were non-secreting. The most frequent complication was CSF. This technique can be done even in a public hospital with financial limits, since the health professionals are integrated.
