Efficacy of transsphenoidal surgery in achieving biochemical cure of growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenomas among patients with cavernous sinus invasion: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objectives: Growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenomas in adults can result in severe craniofacial disfigurement and potentially fatal medical complications. Surgical resection leading to remission of the disease is dependent on complete surgical resection of the tumor. Lesions that invade the cavernous sinus may not be safely accessible via an endonasal transsphenoidal surgery (TSS), and the rates of biochemical remission of patients with residual disease vary widely in the literature. We conducted a meta-analysis to examine the prevalence of biochemical remission after TSS among patients with growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenomas with and without cavernous sinus invasion.

Methods: Embase, PubMed, and Cochrane Library databases were searched for relevant publications. Fourteen studies with 972 patients with biochemically confirmed growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenomas were included in the meta-analysis.

Results: The overall remission prevalence under a fixed-effect model was 47.6% (95% CI = 40.8-54.4%) for patients with invasive macroadenomas (I² = 74.6%, p < 0.01); 76.4% (95% CI = 72.2-80.1%) for patients with non-invasive macroadenomas (I² = 59.6%, p = 0.03); and 74.2% (95% CI = 66.3-80.7%) for patients with non-invasive microadenomas (I² = 36.4, p = 0.10). The significant difference among the three groups resulted from the difference between patients with or without cavernous sinus invasion (p = 0.01) and not from the size of adenomas among those without cavernous sinus invasion (p = 0.66).

Discussion: The prevalence of biochemical remission in patients with cavernous sinus invasion was lower than in patients without cavernous sinus invasion after TSS for acromegaly.