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Reviews in Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders

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01-12-2020 | Pituitary Adenoma

The optimal numerosity of the referral population of pituitary tumors centers of excellence (PTCOE): A surgical perspective

Authors: Pietro Mortini, Gianluca Nocera, Francesca Roncelli, Marco Losa, Anna Maria Formenti, Andrea Giustina

Published in: Reviews in Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders | Issue 4/2020

Abstract

Surgical experience is of paramount importance to reach therapeutic success and minimize operative complications. In the field of pituitary surgery, this led to the concept of Pituitary Center of Excellence (PTCOE) defined as a center where an interdisciplinary team works in collaboration and where surgeons can be trained appropriately to reach and keep excellence in daily practice. To review the literature to define the optimal referral population size to establish a PTCOE to optimize both training and specific field research. A review of the literature was performed about epidemiology. The time needed to observe 200 cases of PAs in a single PTCOE and to reach the minimal surgical experience threshold (MSET) was calculated for different referral population groups. The time needed to reach MSET decreased as population size increased. We defined a population as the optimal one to be served by a single PTCOE with a single dedicated neurosurgeon. PTCOEs should be established after an analysis of the referral population, number of cases suitable for surgical treatment and number of dedicated neurosurgeons.

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Title: The optimal numerosity of the referral population of pituitary tumors centers of excellence (PTCOE): A surgical perspective
Authors: Pietro Mortini
Gianluca Nocera
Francesca Roncelli
Marco Losa
Anna Maria Formenti
Andrea Giustina
Publication date: 01-12-2020
Publisher: Springer US
Keyword: Pituitary Adenoma
Published in: Reviews in Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders / Issue 4/2020
Print ISSN: 1389-9155
Electronic ISSN: 1573-2606
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11154-020-09564-7

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