The contribution of Davide Giordano (1864-1954) to pituitary surgery: the transglabellar-nasal approach

This report describes the fundamental contribution made by Davide Giordano, proposing the transglabellar surgical approach in a period in which transfacial and transbasal operative approaches to the pituitary gland were considered inadvisable because of their risk. His idea was to gain access through bilateral paranasal and frontal skin incisions, allowing removal of the ethmoid bone and the anterior wall of the sphenoidal cube. With the anterior and inferior aspects of the sella turcica thus exposed, bone is removed and the gland is exposed by incision of the dura mater. The technique proposed by Giordano is undoubtedly a forerunner of the transsphenoidal route to the pituitary gland. The importance of his contribution was confirmed by Cushing, who reported his first use of the approach of Giordano in 1909 in a patient with a pituitary adenoma. The efforts of Giordano clearly inspired surgeons of his era to perform this operation clinically, giving impetus to the further development of neurosurgery.