Perioperative Management of Patients Undergoing Transsphenoidal Pituitary Surgery

BACKGROUND: The sellar and parasellar region is a confluence of several critical anatomical structures from various physiological systems located in close proximity to one another. Patients with pathology in this critical region of the central nervous system therefore make up a unique subset of neurosurgical patients that require careful preoperative and postoperative attention to numerous management details involving neurological, visual, and neuroendocrine function. A thorough understanding of the underlying anatomical and physiological principles of each of these systems, as well as the medical and surgical nuances involved in each case, is required to provide optimized management for patients with pituitary pathology. In this review, we discuss the major preoperative and postoperative considerations in patients undergoing resection for pituitary lesions in the modern era of transsphenoidal surgery.