Miss Diagnosis: San Francisco

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

San Francisco

Alex and I are going to S.F. on Thursday night so that we can meet two future BLAer's. Michelle will be flying in from LA for her pre op (surgery in early Feb.) and Lisa will be flying in from Washington for her first meeting with Dr. Duh. I'm excited that we have helped (re)introduce a great surgeon for those on the West Coast in need of adrenal surgery. We are all getting together for breakfast on Friday morning before their appointments; it should be fun!

1 comment:

judycolbyJanuary 26, 2010 at 6:10 PM
Oh, I'm jealous that you guys get to meet! Somebody take pictures.
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Transphenoidal Pituitary Surgery- From the UCSF web site

What happens during surgery?
The surgical removal of the pituitary adenoma is performed by a technique called a transsphenoidal operation. The word 'transsphenoidal' describes the path the surgeon follows to reach the pituitary gland. The word comes from 'trans', meaning 'to cross or pass through', and 'sphenoid', the name of the cavity (the sphenoid sinus) that is passed through to reach the pituitary gland. Newer techniques and improvements in technology now allow removal of these tumors without the need for an incision under the lip or within the nostril. The surgeon begins the approach by entering through the nostril on one side. The surgeon uses a brilliant fiber optic light to illuminate the internal anatomy, a microscope to magnify the area of surgery to 12 times the actual size, and very tiny microsurgical instruments especially designed for this particular operation. The surgeon guides the surgical instrument into the nasal cavity and an opening is made in the sphenoid bone. The sphenoid sinus is entered, and then an opening is made in the wall of the sella turcica to expose the pituitary gland. The adenoma can be readily distinguished from the normal pituitary gland tissue and is removed without removing the normal gland. After the surgeon removes all the tumor tissue, the small cavity that is left is treated with alcohol to destroy any tumor cells that may remain. This cavity is then sealed, sometimes with a piece of fat that the surgeon removes from the patient's abdomen. The surgeon then applies a biological 'glue' that helps seal the pituitary area from the nose and promotes natural healing. No nasal packs are used with this approach.