Recovery of vision following treatment of pituitary tumours: application of a new system of visual assessment.

The lack of a standard, quantitative method of assessing the degree of visual deficit hinders comparison of the results of the different methods available for treating visual failure due to pituitary tumour. This report describes a simple, semi-quantitative and precise approach and illustrates its use in 34 patients treated by transsphenoidal hypophysectomy and radiotherapy. Visual improvement occurred in 85 per cent of cases and no patient sustained deterioration of vision. The degree of pre-operative visual loss was scored at a mean of 51.4 per cent which reduced to a mean of 27.4 per cent at a minimum of twelve months' follow up. The factor that had the greatest influence on visual recovery was the degree of visual loss on presentation. It is therefore essential to be able to compare this variable before attempting to assess if outcome is different in a series treated by alternative methods.