Comparison of Endoscopic and Microscopic Transsphenoidal Approaches for the Resection of Pituitary Adenoma

The comparative outcomes between endoscopic and microscopic transsphenoidal approaches (ETSA and MTSA) for pituitary adenomas (PAs) remain controversial; however, the numerous literatures have been investigated for decades. This study evaluated the effectiveness of these two techniques using comprehensive measurements and rigorous statistical methods.

A retrospective review of patients who underwent transsphenoidal surgery for PAs at our institution between January 2010 and December 2019 was performed. We included only cases treated by surgeons who have independently performed more than 30 transsphenoidal surgeries. Patients’ characteristics, surgical outcomes, complications, and recurrence were collected for statistical analysis

A total of 210 patients, including 138 ETSA patients, and 72 MTSA patients, were analyzed. The baseline characteristics of the two groups were comparable. ETSA patients showed less intraoperative blood loss (191.9 mL vs. 369.9 mL, P < 0.01), a higher rate of gross total resection (GTR) (84.1% vs. 72.2%, P = 0.04), a higher rate of extent of resection (EOR) (95.1% vs. 87.4%, P < 0.01), and shorter hospital stay (10 days vs. 13.5 days, P < 0.01). These better outcomes of ETSA persisted in multivariable regression analysis. Complications were not significantly different between groups. There was no statistical difference between recurrence-free survival of the two groups (P = 0.06, log-rank test)

Our study showed that ETSA provided better outcomes and attained similar complications compared to MTSA for the resection of PAs.