Postoperative Obstructive Sleep Apnea Management Following Endoscopic Pituitary Surgery: A Systematic Review

There is currently no consensus on the appropriate timing of noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (PPV) resumption in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) after endoscopic pituitary surgery. We performed a systematic review of the literature to better assess the safety of early PPV use in OSA patients following surgery. The study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Databases in English were searched using the keywords: “sleep apnea,” “CPAP,” “endoscopic,” “skull base,” “transsphenoidal” and “pituitary surgery.” Case reports, editorials, reviews, meta-analyses, unpublished and abstract-only articles were all excluded. Five retrospective studies were identified, comprising 267 patients with OSA who underwent endoscopic endonasal pituitary surgery. The mean age of patients in four studies (n = 198) was 56.3 years (SD = 8.6) and the most common indication for surgery was pituitary adenoma resection. The timing of PPV resumption following surgery was reported in four studies (n = 130), with 29 patients receiving PPV therapy within two weeks. The pooled rate of postoperative cerebrospinal fluid leak associated with PPV resumption was 4.0% (95% CI: 1.3–6.7%) in three studies (n = 27) and there were no reports of pneumocephalus associated with PPV use in the early postoperative period (<2 weeks). Early resumption of PPV in OSA patients after endoscopic endonasal pituitary surgery appears relatively safe. However, the current literature is limited. Additional studies with more rigorous outcome reporting are warranted to assess the true safety of re-initiating PPV postoperatively in this population.