Assessing Patient-Reported Symptoms to Predict Postoperative Complications from Pituitary Surgery Using a Novel Consensus-Developed Inventory

Background: Endoscopic endonasal pituitary surgery is a safe and effective procedure that can often be discharged on the first or second post operative day. Published data suggests up to 8 to 10% of patients undergoing pituitary surgery can develop complications which require unscheduled visits, readmission, or reoperation, often in the 7 to 14 days following surgery prior to their first postoperative visit. During this time of increased risk, healthcare providers must utilize careful questioning and timely communication, often via phone or patient portals to determine if a patient is at risk of impending complications. We posit that patient reported symptoms can be utilized to build a predictive algorithm and reveal a patient's estimated risk following endoscopic endonasal pituitary surgery. Thus we utilized a validated expert consensus strategy to build a novel inventory to assess patient-report symptoms collected remotely following surgery.