Improvement of Vision after Resection of Pituitary Tumor

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Pituitary adenomas are the most common type of pituitary disorder. They are benign neoplasms that account for 10% to 15% of all intracranial masses. Due to strategic location, visual impairment is common in pituitary tumors. Transsphenoidal surgery remains the treatment of choice, resulting in improvement of visual field defects in 75–100% of visually impaired patients with pituitary adenoma. The sella turcica forces an expanding adenoma superiorly, leading to compression of the optic nerve and headaches from mass effect. When the tumor enlarges, it compresses the optic chiasm superiorly, primarily causing visual field deficits, most often bitemporal hemianopia. A relationship exists between severity of visual impairment and tumor size. Surgical management of pituitary adenoma is aimed at resecting adenoma, attaining hormonal remission and cure from symptoms caused by mass effect of lesion. Contrary to global scenario, patients present to our center very late with large lesions. Visual changes are expected more often to continue to disable our patients. So, we planned a prospective study to evaluate visual changes after pituitary adenoma excision.