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The pseudocapsule surrounding a pituitary adenoma and its clinical significance

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Abstract

The transsphenoidal approach is currently considered the preferred first-line treatment for pituitary adenoma. With the discovery and application of the pseudocapsule surrounding a pituitary adenoma, transsphenoidal surgery of pituitary adenoma further falls into two categories: “extracapsular” and traditional “intracapsular” resection methods, on the basis of where dissection is performed with respect to the pseudocapsule. Thus, the pseudocapsule can be used as a plane to guide the operation, helps in total resection of pituitary adenoma, and can guide subsequent treatment after surgery.

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Acknowledgment

We thank Professor Liping Zhu (Department of Anatomy, Shandong University School of Medicine, Jinan, China) for making diagrams (Figs. 1, 2). This research was supported by grants from the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (Y2008C64 and Y2006C75).

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  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Shandong University, 324#, Jingwu Road, Jinan, Shandong, 250021, People’s Republic of China

    Xin Qu, Guangming Xu, Yuanming Qu & Tao Song

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Correspondence to Guangming Xu.

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Qu, X., Xu, G., Qu, Y. et al. The pseudocapsule surrounding a pituitary adenoma and its clinical significance. J Neurooncol 101, 171–178 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11060-010-0247-0

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