The “pituitary locator” is a surgical instrument designed for transsphenoidal hypophysectomy surgery in dogs and cats. This instrument reports intraoperatively a measurement obtained on a preoperative tomographic examination in order to correctly identify and remove the pituitary gland.
| Patent title | Pituitary locator |
|---|---|
| Thematic area | Health |
| Ownership | ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITA' DI BOLOGNA |
| Inventors | Luciano Pisoni, Sara Del Magno, Veronica Cola |
| Protection | Italy (opportunity for seeking patent protection internationally) |
| Licensing status | Available for development agreements, options, licenses, and other valorization agreements. |
| Keywords | pituitary surgery, trans-sphenoidal hypophysectomy, small animal surgery, hypophyseal fossa, trans-sphenoidal access |
| Filed on | 26 March 2024 |
Nowadays, hypophysectomy is performed in dogs and cats to remove pituitary tumors for curative purposes. This surgery was described at the end of the 1990s and the traditional technique exclusively involves the identification of anatomical landmarks to identify the access point to the pituitary gland. This technique may be difficult or imprecise for beginners. Other techniques have been proposed that exploit advanced intraoperative imaging diagnostics, requiring longer surgical times or highly specialized instruments. Customized 3-D printed guides were proposed, individually made for each patient.
The proposed instrument is made of surgical steel, and it is composed of two steel rods with an interposed joint, one part with a millimeter scale. There are two tips, one fixed and one mobile. The mobile tip can be moved to a certain measurement obtained in the pre-operative phase based on the tomographic examination, and then fixed using a ring nut. The measurement obtained in the preoperative phase is characteristic of each subject and dictated by anatomical reference points.
The proposed instrument is made of surgical steel, is sterilizable and adaptable for each subject, reducing the environmental impact. The instrument takes up little space in the surgical setting and is easy to handle, making it always applicable. Its use has demonstrated a reduction in intraoperative surgical times with possible repercussions on the patient's recovery in the postoperative period. Its easy use could facilitate learning the hypophysectomy technique for those in the training phase.