On July 12, Julie M. Silverstein, MD and collaborators published a manuscript in “Current Oncology,” titled “Surgery for Pituitary Tumor Apoplexy Is Associated with Rapid Headache and Cranial Nerve Improvement.”
Pituitary tumor apoplexy (PTA) causes sudden-onset headaches, loss of vision, ophthalmoparesis and decreased consciousness. This study looks at a series of patients with PTA at an academic institution over a 22-year time period.
Silverstein and colleagues state that “no correlation of time-to-surgery and rapidity of recovery of cranial nerve deficits (CND) were observed.” They found that “surgery for PTA is associated with rapid recovery of CNDs in the early, subacute, and delayed time frames, and with rapid headache improvement in the early and subacute time frames in 50% or more of patients.”
Surgery for Pituitary Tumor Apoplexy Is Associated with Rapid Headache and Cranial Nerve Improvement