Ophthalmic surveillance before and after treatment of non-functioning pituitary adenomas with optic pathway involvement: a systematic review protocol.

INTRODUCTION

Non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPAs) account for approximately 30–40% of pituitary tumours. They frequently compress the optic chiasm, leading to visual field defects, reduced visual acuity and colour vision impairment. Ophthalmic assessment is essential for informing treatment choices and monitoring recovery or disease progression. However, monitoring assessments and frameworks to guide test selection, timing and follow-up vary widely across centres and lack international consensus. To systematically examine and synthesise ophthalmic surveillance in adults with radiologically confirmed NFPAs involving the optic pathway, before and after intervention.

METHODS

We will search Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, CENTRAL, Scopus, Web of Science and grey literature sources from inception. Eligible studies will include adults (≥18 years) with radiologically confirmed NFPAs and documented optic pathway involvement. Both randomised and non-randomised studies that report ophthalmic assessments will be included. Case series with fewer than 10 participants will be excluded. Two reviewers will independently and in duplicate screen titles/abstracts and full texts, extract data and assess risk of bias using design-specific tools (including Risk-of-Bias Tool for Randomised Trials, Risk of Bias in Non-randomised Studies of Interventions, Joanna Briggs Institute checklists and the Appraisal tool for Cross-Sectional Studies tool).

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: No ethical approval is required as this review synthesises previously published data. Findings will be submitted for peer-reviewed publication and presented at national and international conferences. The protocol was prospectively registered with PROSPERO (CRD420261337096).

PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD420261337096.