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VISUAL RECOVERY AFTER TREATMENT FOR PITUITARY ADENOMA
Author(s) -
LENNERSTRAND GUNNAR
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
acta ophthalmologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.534
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1755-3768
pISSN - 1755-375X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-3768.1983.tb01498.x
Subject(s) - visual acuity , visual field , medicine , pituitary adenoma , atrophy , ophthalmology , optic chiasm , visual evoked potentials , surgery , audiology , adenoma , optic nerve
Visual functions were studied pre‐ and post‐operatively in 128 patients treated for pituitary adenoma with operations by intracranial (89 patients) or transsphenoidal approach (39 patients). Most patients were given post‐operative irradiation. Follow‐up was 6 months or more. Visual field defects were seen pre‐operatively in 85% of the patients operated intracranially and in 36% of the patients operated transsphenoidally. Visual acuity was reduced, at least in one eye, in 64% of the patients in the former group and in 26% of the latter group. Additional diagnostic information was obtained from recordings of visually evoked cortical potentials. After intracranial operations visual acuity was normalized or improved in 65 % and visual fields in 82 % of the patients with pre‐operative visual defects. After transsphenoidal operations the corresponding values were 56% and 92%. A detailed analysis of the visual acuity showed that eyes with optic atrophy pre‐operatively improved to a very limited extent. Other pre‐operative ophthalmological disturbances were of much less prognostic significance. Improvement of vision was often gradual and could continue for more than a year after treatment. Even if visual acuity and visual fields had been completely restored, visually evoked cortical potentials could remain impaired, indicating that evoked potentials might be a very sensitive test for the evaluation of visual recovery.