EXTENDED ENDONASAL ENDOSCOPIC APPROACH IN TREATING PITUITARY ADENOMAS AND SKULL BASE TUMORS

The endoscopic endonasal approach (EEA) is a rapidly growing, minimally invasive discipline applied to a broad set of skull base tumors. The introduction of the endoscopic endonasal approach for the management of lesions of the skull base has produced a paradigm shift in the way these complicated lesions are managed. The extended endonasal approach provides the most direct route to the anterior cranial base including sella, cribriform plate, planum sphenoidale, suprasellar cistern, clivus and foramen magnum. Transsphenoidal microscopic pituitary surgery has long been considered the gold standard in surgical treatment of pituitary tumors. Extended endonasal endoscopic pituitary surgery has come into prominence over the last two decades as a superior alternative to microscopic surgery. Gaining experience in this approach has allowed the use of EEA for the surgical treatment of more complex pathologies such as meningiomas, craniopharyngiomas and more.