title: [CT after transsphenoidal surgery].
abstract: Two hundred and ten CT studies of 95 patients after transsphenoidal surgery were reviewed. Spheno-ethmoid opacification, intrasellar hematoma and gas bubbles were noted within 2 weeks after surgery. Bone defect of the sellar floor and bone stent were seen on coronal scans in most cases. The packing material frequently disappeared on follow-up studies. Hormonal assessment of the functioning tumor, according to which the effect of treatment was evaluated, was correlated with CT findings. Because differentiation between postoperative changes and residual mass was difficult, there was no definite CT criteria to indicate residual functioning tumor except upward convexity of the diaphragma sellae on CT more than 3 months after surgery. Initial follow up CT study is recommended to be performed at about 3 months after surgery, at which time the immediate postoperative inflammatory changes have been disappeared. The incidence of recurrence was 3/47 (6%), which was shown on follow-up CT from 4 to 10 years after surgery. Therefore subsequent CT study should be done in every year or two, taking the clinical symptoms and hormonal data into consideration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Tohoku University School of Medicine.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tazawa
mesh_terms: D000236:Adenoma / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013100:Sphenoid Bone / Q000601:surgery*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed