Dictionary of Cancer Terms
View in Spanish: Cirugía transesfenoidal
Transsphenoidal surgery (TRANS-sfee-NOY-dul SER-jeh-ree)
A type of surgery in which instruments are inserted into part of the brain by going through the nose and the sphenoid bone (a butterfly-shaped bone at the base of the skull). Transsphenoidal surgery is used to remove tumors of the pituitary gland.
Source: National Cancer Institute Dictionary of Cancer Terms, available at www.cancer.gov/dictionary.