Application Research on Endoscopic Pseudocapsule-Based Resection for Pituitary Adenomas

Pituitary adenomas are one of the most common primary central nervous system tumors and have an estimated prevalence of 17%. Management of pituitary adenomas involves a multidisciplinary approach that can incorporate surgical, medical, and/or radiation therapies. Over the last two decades, the endoscopic endonasal approach (EEA) has been extensively developed and refined for the resection of pituitary adenomas (PAs). In recent years, extracapsular resection (ER), which emphasized the importance of the pseudocapsule between the adenoma and surrounding normal gland tissue as a surgical plane, was adopted for more radical resection of the tumor. Therefore, dedicated high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocols have been proposed to detect pituitary adenoma and accurately guide surgical removal. The evaluation of preoperative imaging for pseudocapsule is very important to the surgical method. Depending on different tumor sizes and pseudocapsule development, investigators adopted different resection strategies. To accomplish complete PA removal and minimize the impact on pituitary functions, intraoperative navigation was used to identify the tumor pseudocapsule, also the suspicious tissue was sent to the pathology department for histopathology intraoperatively. Long-term postoperative follow-up imaging and endocrine data were used to evaluate tumor prognosis. Standardized management and established biobank is critical for pituitary adenomas.