Significance of postoperative fluid diuresis in patients undergoing transsphenoidal surgery for growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenomas.

Object: Following successful transsphenoidal surgery in patients with growth hormone (GH)-secreting pituitary adenomas, a characteristic fluid diuresis has been described. In this paper the authors aimed to further analyze the degree of fluid diuresis as it relates to postoperative GH levels.

Methods: Between 2000 and 2008, 85 patients underwent transsphenoidal surgery for a GH-secreting adenoma at the USC University Hospital.

Postoperative Gamma Knife surgery for benign meningiomas of the cranial base.

Object: The standard treatment for meningiomas is complete resection, but the proximity of skull base meningiomas to important neurovascular structures makes complete excision of the lesion difficult or impossible. The authors analyzed the mid- and long-term results obtained in patients treated with postresection Gamma Knife surgery (GKS) for residual or recurrent benign meningiomas of the cranial base.

Methods: Thirty-six patients with residual or recurrent benign meningiomas of the skull base following one or more surgical procedures underwent GKS.

Recognition and management of delayed hyponatremia following transsphenoidal pituitary surgery.

Object: The goal of this study was to assess the incidence of symptomatic and occult hyponatremia in patients who had undergone transsphenoidal pituitary surgery.

Methods: Patients who underwent transsphenoidal surgery at the University of Southern California University Hospital between 1997 and 2004 had serum sodium levels drawn on an outpatient basis on postoperative Day 7. Patient records were retrospectively reviewed to determine the incidence of, and risk factors for, symptomatic and asymptomatic hyponatremia.