The endoscope is inserted through one nostril. A bony opening is made in the nasal septum (dotted line) and sphenoid sinus (green) to access the sella.

Ameer’s friends noticed the weight loss, and they kept asking him about it. Was he OK? Ameer wasn’t concerned at first. Then he began to notice that he couldn’t see people approaching him from the side. His peripheral vision was deteriorating. The third symptom landed him in the hospital. After getting up unusually late one morning and putting his shirt on backwards, he suffered a seizure. "Something was clearly wrong, and I knew I had to sit down," Ameer recalls.

Ameer lost consciousness, and he was taken to University Hospital, where he underwent an MRI, which revealed a tumor the size of a walnut on his pituitary gland. John M. Tew, MD, a Mayfield Clinic neurosurgeon and Clinical Director of the UC Neuroscience Institute, prescribed medication and told Ameer he needed to regain his strength and some of the lost weight before surgery could be performed.

About a month later, Dr. Tew and his team successfully removed the tumor, approaching it through Ameer’s nose in a delicate, minimally invasive procedure called endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery "They cut two holes in my nostrils," Ameer says. "They took fat from my stomach and filled the void where the tumor had been. My only scar is on my stomach."

Dr. Tew performed the transsphenoidal surgery in collaboration with Lee Zimmer, MD, PhD, an otolaryngologist (ear, nose, and throat surgeon) with the Functional Neuroscience Center at the UC Neuroscience Institute and an expert in endoscopic sinus surgery.

Ameer, a retired electrician, is eating well, working out regularly, and thankful for the excellent care he received.

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