[ENDOSCOPIC REMOVAL OF TUBERCULUM SELLAE MENINGEOMA THROUGH ENDONASAL TRANSSPHENOIDAL APPROACH]

Experiences acquired in our department with endoscope assisted microsurgical transsphenoidal pituitary surgery encouraged us to expanded the endoscopic approach to skull base lesions. The endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal approach proved to be less traumatic to the traditional microsurgical approaches, yet very effective. The endoscopic transsphenoidal technique was applied in a patient havin anterior skull base tumor. The patient was a 49-year-old woman with several months history of left visual defect. The magnetic resonance (MR) scans of the skull revealed a midline anterior fossa space-occupying lesion measuring 21 x 16 x 22 mm located on planum sphenoidale, tuberculum sellae and intrasellar. The tumor compressed both optic nerves and optic chiasm. Total resection of the tumor was achieved by use of endoscopic transnasal, transsphenoidal technique. This is the first reported case of an anterior fossa meningeoma being treated by an endoscopic transsphenoidal technique in Hungary.