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COMPLICATIONS OF TRANS‐SPHENOIDAL SURGERY: THE WELLINGTON EXPERIENCE
Author(s) -
Woollons A. C.,
Balakrishnan V.,
Hunn M. K.,
Rajapaske Y. R.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
australian and new zealand journal of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.111
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1445-2197
pISSN - 0004-8682
DOI - 10.1046/j.1440-1622.2000.01843.x
Subject(s) - medicine , surgery , diabetes insipidus , sinusitis , meningitis , perforation , fistula , cerebrospinal fluid leak , perioperative , cerebrospinal fluid , pediatrics , materials science , pathology , punching , metallurgy
Background : All patients who underwent trans‐sphenoidal surgery between January 1984 and December 1998 were reviewed to assess morbidity resulting from this operation. Methods : There were 185 operations on 165 patients. The operative approach was sublabial in 80 cases and transnasal in 105. One surgeon (VB) performed the vast majority of operations. Results : Complications included nasal perforation (7.6%), transient diabetes insipidus (4.9%), permanent diabetes insipidus (3.8%), cerebrospinal fluid fistula (4.3%), donor site haematoma (2.2%) and residual tumour haemorrhage (1.6%) causing ophthalmoplegia (1.1%) and loss of vision (1.1%). Other complications included epistaxis (1.1%), meningitis (0.5%) and sinusitis (0.5%). Injury to the anterior superior alveolar nerve also occurred in the sublabial approach in 6.3% of patients. There were no perioperative deaths. Conclusions : There is a small but significant risk of a number of complications that should be considered for informed consent of this procedure.