Transnasal Endoscopic: Surgery of the Pituitary Gland - the Benefit of Collaboration between Otorhinolaryngologist and Neurosurgeon

The authors describe an experience with the transnasal endoscopic approach to sellar region surgery. A neurosurgeon and an otorhinolaryngologist collaborated in operations upon 23 patients in the neurosurgery department of the University hospital Ostrava between March 2008 and December 2009. The endoscopic approach clearly benefits from keeping invasiveness to the minimum and making "four hands" surgery a viable option. The advantages of collaboration between neurosurgeon with otorhinolaryngologist are better orientation in the nasal cavity, the option of addressing any prevailing pathology immediately, and time savings in surgery arising out of the more highly-developed particular skills of the otorhinolaryngologist. Interdisciplinary collaboration in this procedure may become the basis for development of an advanced approach to skull base surgery.