OBJECTIVE To present a large series of surgically treated tuberculum sellae meningiomas with particular regard to involvement of the optic canal and visual outcome. METHODS A retrospective analysis was done on 53 patients (40 female) with meningiomas originating from the tuberculum sellae who underwent surgery between 1991 and 2002. The standard surgical approach consisted of pterional cranio...

N early a century ago, Karl Germain (1878-1956), a magician who had an international reputation for conjuring, became blind from a brain tumor. It ended his career. His physicians in Cleveland, Ohio, advised him to consult the eminent neurosurgeon Harvey Cushing, MD (1869-1939), in Boston, Massachusetts. Cushing successfully removed the tumor and reported the case in his landmark article on men...

Tuberculum sellae meningiomas are usually removed using various transcranial approaches. The extended transsphenoidal approach also indicates for some lesions around the sella turcica. The author primarily approaches supradiaphragmatic tumors through the tuberculum sellae using the extended transsphenoidal approach, termed the “transsphenoidal-transtuberculum sellae approach” even for the tuber...

Computed tomographic (CT) and surgical findings were correlated retrospectively in 51 patients with preoperative diagnoses of prolactin-secreting pituitary microadenomas. Thirty-nine had microadenomas at surgery. Twenty-three had identifiable discrete lesions. Of these, 21 had microadenomas and two did not; these two groups could not be distinguished reliably. Six patients with proven microaden...

Twenty-five patients with suspected pituitary adenoma were evaluated prospectively with CT and MR. Nine patients underwent transsphenoidal surgery, and three of these showed a documented decrease in size of mass on bromocriptine therapy. CT was more sensitive than MR for detecting focal lesions (seven vs three) and sellar-floor erosion (12 vs six). MR was superior to CT in identifying infundibu...

SUMMARY The role of mechanical forces influencing the growth of a pituitary adenoma is poorly understood. In this paper we report the case of a young man with hyperprolactinaemia and an empty sella secondary to hydrocephalia, who developed a macroprolactinoma following the relief of high intraventricular pressure. LEARNING POINTS The volume of a pituitary tumour may be influenced not only by ...

Background and Importance: Symptomatic vasospasm is a well-known pathology associated with ruptured aneurysms. Nevertheless, this condition is rarely found as a result of skull base tumor removal. Case Presentation: We reported a new case of 40-year-old woman previously treated for a tuberculum and diaphragma sellae meningioma showing symptomatic vasospasm after twelve post-operative days wi...

BACKGROUND The anatomy of the sella turcica is variable in size and shape. It has been classified into three types: round, oval and flat. It can also be deep or shallow in both children and adults. The floor of the sella turcica which in most cases is concave may be, flat or even convex. In both anatomical and radiological practice in Nigeria, normal data in relation to the description of the n...

Gadolinium-DTPA MR imaging (Gd-MR), unenhanced MR imaging, and contrast-enhanced CT studies were compared prospectively in six patients with surgically confirmed pituitary adenomas and three patients without sellar pathology to determine the utility of Gd-MR in the diagnosis of pituitary adenoma. In normal patients, the pituitary gland, cavernous sinus, and infundibulum enhanced by T1 shortenin...