Efficacy of neuronavigation-assisted endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery for invasive pituitary adenomas

Objective To explore the effect of neuronavigation-assisted endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery for invasive pituitary adenomas. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on 40 patients with invasive pituitary adenomas admitted to Department of Neurosurgery, Affiliated Dalian Municipal Central Hospital, Dalian Medical University from January 2010 to March 2018. Among those patients, 20 were treated with neuronavigation-assisted endoscopic transnasal sphenoidal surgery (endoscopic group) and the other 20 were treated with traditional transnasal microsurgery (control group). The complete tumor resection rate, postoperative complication rate and tumor recurrence rate were compared between the 2 groups. Results There were no significant differences in gender, age, clinical manifestations, endocrine examination results, Knosp classification of pituitary adenomas or maximum diameter of tumors between the 2 groups (all P>0.05). The total resection rate of endoscopic group was higher than that in the control group[65.0% (13/20) vs. 20.0% (4/20), P 0.05). Conclusion Neuronavigation-assisted endoscopic transnasal sphenoidal surgery for invasive pituitary adenomas is associated with higher total resection rate and lower recurrence rate compared with traditional transnasal sphenoidal microsurgery. Key words: Pituitary neoplasms; Neoplasm invasiveness; Neuronavigation; Natural orifice endoscopic surgery; Treatment outcome