Since the turn of the century surgeons were proposed many procedures for exposure of the hypophysis cerebri of the operations proposed, two pricipal routes have been selected to reach the sella, first the intracranial, and second, the extracranial transsphenoidal. A variety of transnasal approaches have been used to gain access to the sella turcica. Each of these approaches requires crossing the sphenoid sinus, hence the transsphenoidal designation of these methods. Since the growth and refinement of microsurgery as a distinct surgical discipline there has been a coincidental maturation of transsphenoidal microsurgical techniques for the management of the hormone secreting microadenoma. The present paper reviews the historical events leading to the current methods of transsphenoidal pituitary surgery. Detailed descriptions of each method are given, with advantages and disadvantages of each. The author's experience in the management of 2 acromegalic patients with the transethmoidal approach are presented. The purpose of this paper is to focus recount the historical events leading to author's present method of pituitary surgery and to present the advantages and disadvantages as well as a procedural description for the transethmoidal approach to the sella turcicaz.
Acromegaly ; Growth Hormone ; Humans ; Microsurgery ; Pituitary Gland ; Sella Turcica ; Sphenoid Sinus