The Medpor™ sheet as a sellar buttress after endonasal transsphenoidal surgery:: Technical note

BACKGROUND A technique to use the Medpor(TM) (porous high-density polyethylene) sheet as an optimal implant to reconstruct the sellar floor or the sphenoid rostrum in endonasal transsphenoidal surgery is described. METHOD After endonasal transsphenoidal surgery, a 0.4-mm thick Medpor(TM) sheet is cut with scissors to a round or elliptical piece, which is placed in the sellar epidural space to reconstruct the sellar floor and buttress the pituitary gland and the sellar packing. In cases of a complete absence of the sellar floor, the sphenoid sinus is packed with autologous fat and fibrin glue, which are buttressed at the defect of the sphenoid rostrum with the Medpor TM sheet. RESULTS Ten patients underwent the reconstruction using the Medpor(TM) sheet in endonasal transsphenoidal surgery, and were then evaluated clinically and radiologically with magnetic resonance images (MR) postoperatively. The Medpor(TM) sheet was easy to cut with scissors and flexible to introduce through a small nostril. It was also sufficiently stiff to buttress the packing material in the sellar cavity or the sphenoid sinus. On MRI, the low-signal intensity of the implant was so remarkable without artifact helping to understand the postoperative image around the reconstructed area. There was no infection or granulomatous tissue reaction related to the implant. CONCLUSION The Medpor(TM) sheet can be an optimal implant to reconstruct the sellar floor or the sphenoid rostrum after endonasal transsphenoidal surgery. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.