Document Detail


The role of outcomes data for assessing the expertise of a pituitary surgeon.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20453648     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Over the past four decades, advances in surgical technique, instrumentation, and anatomical knowledge have fueled the evolution and sophistication of transsphenoidal pituitary surgery. Paralleling these advances have been major improvements in endocrinological and overall clinical outcomes in patients with pituitary adenomas and other parasellar lesions such as Rathke's cleft cysts and craniopharyngiomas. In this review, we assess the impact of neurosurgeon expertise as a determinant of outcome in pituitary surgery. RECENT FINDINGS: Published data since the 1980s indicate that remission rates, overall clinical outcomes and surgical complication rates in pituitary and parasellar surgery are related to neurosurgeon practice volume and cumulative clinical experience. More recently, pituitary surgery has been increasingly performed using an endonasal endoscopic approach. Reports over the last decade suggest when an experienced pituitary neurosurgeon performs a fully endoscopic or endoscope-assisted tumor removal; outcomes are similar if not better than when performed by a traditional microscopic transsphenoidal approach. SUMMARY: A focused clinical practice and large transsphenoidal surgical volume appear to be important outcome determinants for patients with pituitary and parasellar tumors. Strategies that may further improve patient outcomes include establishing guidelines for pituitary tumor centers of excellence and more focused residency and fellowship training in endonasal endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery. Encouraging regionalization of care to higher volume pituitary tumor centers of excellence and promoting patient education on the importance of surgical expertise may further enhance pituitary patient outcomes.
Authors:
Kiarash Shahlaie; Nancy McLaughlin; Amin B Kassam; Daniel F Kelly
Related Documents :
11450898 - Postpartum pituitary hypophysitis.
7499948 - Endoscopic management of lesions of the sella turcica.
3177048 - Transsphenoidal surgery with the additional use of the nd-yag-laser.
12194398 - Continuous cerebrospinal fluid drainage using a lumbar subarachnoid catheter for cerebr...
22324018 - Giant mesenteric cystic lymphangioma originating from the lesser omentum in the abdomin...
8713568 - Urethral sleeve advancement in repairement of distal hypospadias.
Publication Detail:
Type:  Historical Article; Journal Article; Review    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Current opinion in endocrinology, diabetes, and obesity     Volume:  17     ISSN:  1752-2978     ISO Abbreviation:  Curr Opin Endocrinol Diabetes Obes     Publication Date:  2010 Aug 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2010-06-30     Completed Date:  2010-09-28     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  101308636     Medline TA:  Curr Opin Endocrinol Diabetes Obes     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  369-76     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Neuroscience Institute and Brain Tumor Center, John Wayne Cancer Institute at Saint John's Health Center, Santa Monica, California 90404, USA.
Export Citation:
APA/MLA Format     Download EndNote     Download BibTex
MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Employee Performance Appraisal / methods*
Endocrine Surgical Procedures* / history,  methods,  statistics & numerical data
Evidence-Based Practice / statistics & numerical data
History, 20th Century
History, 21st Century
Humans
Pituitary Gland / surgery*
Professional Competence* / statistics & numerical data
Statistics as Topic
Treatment Outcome*

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


Previous Document:  Angiogenesis as a potential target of pharmaconutrients in cancer therapy.
Next Document:  Initial evaluation of the nonsmall cell lung cancer patient: diagnosis and staging.