Brain Tumors Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Brain Tumors, including details on symptoms, benign and malignant tumors, gliomas, screening, treatment.

Rare fatal vascular complication of transsphenoidal surgery.

Kurschel S, Leber KA, Scarpatetti M, Roll P

Department of Neurosurgery, Medical University, Graz, Austria. senta.kurschel@meduni-graz.at

We report the case of a 61-year-old man, who underwent transsphenoidal surgery for a pituitary macroadenoma. The presence of tough fibrous septa dividing the tumour permitted only a partial resection. Progressive loss of consciousness soon after surgery occurred, an emergency CT scan showed no evidence of haemorrhage. Twenty hours later, MRI revealed compression of both internal carotid arteries with arrest of arterial flow resulting in stroke by an enlarged haemorrhagic mass consistent with a pituitary apoplexy. On the second postoperative day, the patient died as a result of this extensive stroke. The mechanisms of this rare complication after transsphenoidal surgery are theorized and the sensitivity of imaging methods is discussed.

Published 2 June 2005 in Acta Neurochir (Wien), 147(3): 321-5; discussion 325.
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