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Abstract

Introduction. Pituitary adenomas are benign brain tumours arising from the adenohypophysis; representing 10-15% of all intra cranial tumours. Despite improved management, they are still related to high morbidity. Visual impairment is a common presentation and visual field defects representing 37-96%. Vision compromise is the frequent indication for surgery. We aimed at describing the clinical presentation of operated patients and their visual outcome.

Methodology. We conducted a cross-sectional study for 6 months at the Yaoundé Central Hospital’s Neurosurgery, Endocrinology and Ophthalmology departments. We included all patients with histopathologically confirmed pituitary adenomas with pre-operative visual assessment (automated visual field or visual acuity or funduscopy or oculomotor nerve testing results) operated from January 2010-June 2016.

Results. Twenty-five participants (50 eyes) were enrolled. All cases were macroadenomas with median duration of symptoms of 14 months. All participants presented with vision impairment and 80% with headaches. At presentation, bitemporal hemianopia was found in 10 patients with the temporal hemifield being the most quantitatively affected; 76% of eyes had a visual acuity (VA)<0.5 and 24% ≥0.5. Craniotomy was used in 88 % of cases versus 12% for the transsphenoidal approach. After surgery, there was a mild improvement of visual acuity with 62% of eyes having a VA<0.5 and 38% a VA≥0.5. The mean deviation an automated visual field index, improved though p=0.3.

Conclusion. Surgical management improved vision in three-quarters of participants. However, long delay before diagnosis and lag time between diagnosis and surgery was associated to poor visual outcome.

Keywords

Pituitary Adenoma Surgery Vision Outcome.

Article Details

How to Cite
Njami, V., Epée, E., Nguifo, E., Bello, F., Ekoumelon, R., Bukam, E., Sobngwi, E., & Djientcheu, V. (2017). Visual Outcome of Surgical Managed Patients with Pituitary Adenomas at the Yaounde Central Hospital. HEALTH SCIENCES AND DISEASE, 18(2 Suppl). https://doi.org/10.5281/hsd.v18i2 Suppl.891

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