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Updated: Jun 15, 2025

Endoscopic Endonasal Trans-sphenoidal Approach: Minimally Invasive Surgery for Pituitary Adenomas
Published on: January 17, 2018
Outcome of endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery for acromegaly: Comparison of using and not using the floor standing
Masahiko Tosaka1, Rei Yamaguchi1, Kazuhiko Horiguchi2
1Department of Neurosurgery, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan.
Introduction:
Endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery can be performed by two surgeons, including an endoscopist (PE/2S), and by a single surgeon with an endoscope-holder system (PE/1S + H). We analyzed the surgical outcome, and outcome predictors in acromegaly patients in endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery using floor standing pneumatic endoscope-holder system.
Methods:
Endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery was performed with PE/1S+H (n = 51) and PE/2S (n = 20). Postoperative remission was evaluated by the 2010 consensus criteria for acromegaly. We compared the surgical results of PE/2S style and PE/1S+H style, and investigated the factors associated with favorable surgical outcomes.
Results:
There was no difference in clinical background between the PE/2S and the PE/1S + H groups. The remission rates for PE/2S and PE/1S+H were 65.0% and 82.4%, respectively, with no significant difference (p = 0.128). In consecutive 71 cases, statistically useful predictors of remission were low preoperative growth hormone (GH) level (<12 ng/mL), low Knosp grade (0-2), and low revised Knosp grade (0-3A). In the conventional Knosp grade 0-2 and 3/4, the sensitivity was 0.76 and the specificity was 0.81. In the revised Knosp grade 0-3A and 3B/4, the sensitivity was 0.96 and the specificity was 0.44.
Conclusion:
The outcome of GH-producing pituitary neuroendocrine tumors surgically removed by PE/1S+H could be almost equivalent to that by PE/2S. Preoperative low GH level and Knosp grades, including revised Knosp grades, are useful preoperative predictors for surgical remission of acromegaly.

