Objective: This study aimed to clarify the symptoms of pituitary or parasellar tumor onset with cranial nerve palsy (CNP) and to improve our knowledge of this rare symptom and its most appropriate treatment.
Methods: Among 1281 patients with pituitary or parasellar tumors surgically treated from 2003 to 2020, 30 cases (2.34%; 15 men and 15 women; mean age: 55.6 years, range: 6-83 years) first presenting with CNP were reviewed to evaluate the neurological symptoms, histological diagnosis, interval from onset to surgery, and time before complete CNP recovery.
Results: Pathological diagnoses comprised 17 pituitary adenomas, including 10 pituitary apoplexies and 4 adrenocorticotropic hormone-positive adenomas, and 13 other tumors, including 3 chordomas, 2 xanthogranulomas, 2 malignant lymphomas, 2 metastatic tumors, 1 Rathke cleft cyst, 1 plasmacytoma, 1 craniopharyngioma, and 1 neuroendocrine carcinoma. The mechanisms causing CNP were pituitary apoplexy (n = 10), cranial nerve compression or involvement (n = 17), and inflammatory changes (n = 9). As the first manifestation, 20 (66.7%) patients presented with oculomotor nerve palsy, 2 (6.7%) with trochlear nerve palsy, and 13 (43.3%) with abducens nerve palsy. Full recovery of CNP was obtained in 25 patients (83.3%) after surgery alone and in 2 patients (6.7%) after adjuvant therapy. Early surgery provided no significant difference in full recovery rates although it reduced the time to reach full recovery.
Conclusions: It is critical to determine the mechanisms of CNP and intervene surgically to improve symptoms, shorten the duration of the disorder, prevent relapses, and obtain the correct pathological diagnosis to select the proper adjuvant therapy.
Keywords: Cranial nerve palsy; Parasellar tumor; Pituitary apoplexy; Pituitary tumor; Skull base; Surgical intervention.
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