Endocrine Abstracts

Pituitary adenomas are among the most common brain tumours and can result in significant morbidity (e.g. blindness), reduced quality of life, and death if left untreated. Transsphenoidal surgery is the mainstay of treatment for the majority of symptomatic pituitary adenomas and has the potential to offer a cure. However, many series describe high rates of treatment failure and recurrence - in functioning adenomas (e.g. up to 20% in Cushing’s Disease) and non-functioning adenomas (e.g. up to 50% on long term follow-up). This is influenced by significant challenges in finding, seeing, and treating pituitary disease during surgery. To meet these clinical challenges, there have been numerous advances in the surgical treatment of pituitary adenomas, with the field benefiting from the recent enormous expansion of novel medical technologies (e.g. augmented reality, robotics, and artificial intelligence). These innovations have the potential to benefit each step of pituitary surgery, and ultimately, drive improved outcomes. Thus, we aim to explore the scope of existing challenges and potential technological advances in pituitary adenoma surgery – distilling the surgery of the future.