Direct transnasal approach for pituitary surgery.

One hundred four patients with pituitary tumours were treated using the direct transnasal approach. The data of these patients were analysed prospectively with regard to duration of surgery and occurrence of complications and compared with retrospective data from 52 patients in whom the traditional sublabial trans-sphenoidal approach was performed. Using the direct transnasal approach, mean operative time was significantly lower than with the sublabial technique. In addition, even though major complications were observed in neither treatment group, minor complications were significantly less frequent after the direct transnasal approach. Due to minimised dissection of normal tissue, this approach is less time-consuming and less traumatic, and the rate of minor complications is significantly lower than with the sublabial procedure.