A 53-year-old woman was admitted to our institution complaining of a mild fever, severe headache, and progressive visual loss that had started 4 days before. On admission, the general condition of the patient and the results of the gross neurological examination were unremarkable. Goldmann perimetry testing showed bitemporal hemianopsia. Her visual acuity was 20/400 in the right and 20/200 in the left eye. A computed tomography scan showed a hyperdense, hemorrhagic mass measuring approximately 2.5 cm in diameter in the suprasellar region []. A magnetic resonance (MR) imaging scan [ and ] better outlined the mass: it affected both the pituitary stalk and the hypothalamus while reaching cranially the left Monro foramen and compressing the optic nerves and chiasm, a clear signal of an ongoing edema. Cerebral angiography showed no vascular malformation. The results of routine blood and serum examinations were normal. Endocrinological studies of the pituitary function were unremarkable. After 3 days, the patient underwent a gross-total resection of the lesion through an extended endoscopic, endonasal, transsphenoidal route. The resection of the lesion was combined with the opening of the third ventricle through the lamina terminalis. A careful reconstruction of the skull base was performed, with abdominal fat, nasal septal flap, and fibrin glue. After the operation, the visual symptoms improved immediately. On discharge, visual acuity was 20/50 in the right eye and 20/20 in the left eye. The patient had a transient incomplete hypopituitarism and mild diplopia which improved after few weeks. After 1 month, the neurological examination was unremarkable. Postoperative MR scan is showed in and . Histological findings confirmed the presence of a CM, showing hemosiderin, reactive fibrohistiocytic, ectatic vascular channels, and dilated cavernous spaces. On immunohistochemistry, the lesion was positive for CD34 staining, marker for endothelial lining, and was negative for elastin staining, thus ruling out an arteriovenous malformation. See showing the main steps of the endoscopic surgery.\nThe PubMed search engine () was used to perform an internet Medline literature research based on the following keywords “chiasma,” “optic,” “sovrasellar,” “CM,” “endoscopic,” and “transsphenoidal” with different combination. There were no limitations as to the timeframe, language, and publication type on the search process. We also cross-checked the references of the articles retrieved by looking for further papers of potential interest.
A 17-year-old boy complained of a 2-month history of visual field defects. Two months prior to this, he experienced sudden deterioration of visual acuity on his left eye and visual field defects on the right. His symptoms remained unchanged for the next 2 months. Upon admission, his visual acuity was 0.05 in the left eye and 0.7 in the right eye. Goldmann perimetry field test showed right homonymous hemianopsia without left eye foveal sparing. Brain MR imaging showed a poorly enhanced lesion 1.9 × 1.7 × 2.1 cm in size in the posteroinferior aspect of the optic chiasm (). The mass extended to the perimesencephalic cistern with multiple stages of hemorrhage. A differential diagnosis included CM, craniopharyngioma and germ cell tumor. To decompress the mass effect around the optic chiasm and improve the patient's visual symptoms, surgical decompression via subfrontal interhemispheric approach was performed. A brownish discoloration was noted around the left side of optic chiasm and tract. A dark chocolate-colored hematoma gushed out, and a mulberry-like lesion was removed. The pathological diagnosis was consistent with the CM. The postoperative MR imaging showed partial resection of CM (). At the patient's 1-year follow-up, his visual acuity improved (1.0/0.4), although visual field defect remained unchanged. However, 2 years after the first operation, the patient complained of worsening visual acuity (0.3/finger count 10 cm). Visual field examination showed impairments in which the left eye only detected the right lower quadrant in the visual field and the right eye had nasal hemianopsia. MR imaging revealed recurrent bleeding (). The patient underwent a second operation resulting in a partial resection. Immediately following the second operation, his visual acuity (0.4/finger count 10 cm) and field improved slightly.