Hyponatremia Following Transsphenoidal Surgery for Pituitary Adenoma in the Elderly Patients

, Dong Ha Kim1; , Won Ho Cho1; , In Ho Han1; , Byung Kwan Choi1; , Seung Heon Cha1; , Chang Hwa Choi2

Case Report

Journal of Korean Society of Geriatric Neurosurgery 2011;7(2):71-76.
Published online September 30, 2011.

Hyponatremia Following Transsphenoidal Surgery for Pituitary Adenoma in the Elderly Patients

Dong Ha Kim1 , Won Ho Cho1 , In Ho Han1 , Byung Kwan Choi1 , Seung Heon Cha1 , Chang Hwa Choi2

Departments of Neurosurgery, ¹Pusan National University Hospital, ²Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Busan, Korea

Abstract

Objective
This study investigated the incidence, pathophsiology and treatment of postoperative hyponatremiain the elderly patients with pituitary adenoma.
Methods
Clinical and radiological characteristics, including sexual ratio, postoperative serum sodium levels, tumor size and extent of surgical resection, were analyzed retrospectively in 42 patients (mean age 65 years), who underwent transsphenoidal surgery for pituitary adenoma between January 2005 and December 2010.
Results
Of the 42 pituitary adenomas (i.e. 38 macroadenoma and 4 microadenoma), 11 patients (26%) showed postoperative hyponatremia. 7 patients (16.7%) revealed symptomatic hyponatremia, and 4 patients (10.5%) remained subclinical hyponatremia. There was no statistically significant difference between affected and unaffected elderly patients in sex, tumor size, tumor type and extent of surgical resection. But postoperative hyponatremia following TSS for PA in the elderly patients tend to be more common than hyponatremia in patients from the whole spectrum.
Conclusion
The elderly patients who underwent transsphenoidal surgery for pituitary adenoma should be closely monitored for the postoperative serum sodium level.

Key Words: Postoperative complicationsㆍHyponatremiaㆍPituitary adenomaㆍAging