Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 16, 2025
Endoscopic Endonasal Trans-sphenoidal Approach: Minimally Invasive Surgery for Pituitary Adenomas
Published on: January 17, 2018
The learning curve for endoscopic endonasal pituitary surgery: a systematic review
Nicholas G Candy1,2, Christopher Ovenden3, Alistair K Jukes3
1Department of Surgery - Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, The University of Adelaide, Basil Hetzel Institute for Translational Research, Woodville South, Adelaide, Australia. nicholas.candy@adelaide.edu.au.
None:
Recent literature demonstrates that a learning curve exists for endoscopic pituitary surgery. However, there is significant variability in the way these studies report their outcomes. This study aims to systematically review the literature regarding outcomes for endoscopic pituitary surgery and how this may be related to a surgical learning curve. An electronic search of the databases Medline, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library databases was performed and data extracted according 2020 Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. Ten articles were included in the review as they examined the following: rates of gross total resection, average operative time, CSF leak rate, visual outcomes, endocrine outcomes and how these results were influenced by surgical experience. We have demonstrated that a learning curve exists for some outcome variables for endoscopic pituitary surgery. However, there is significant heterogeneity in the current body of literature which makes clear comparisons difficult.
