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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Aug 1.
Published in final edited form as: IEEE ASME Trans Mechatron. 2013 Jun 19;19(3):996–1006. doi: 10.1109/TMECH.2013.2265804

Fig. 1.

Fig. 1

An illustration of the endonasal approach to the pituitary gland using a straight tool. The nasal cavity must be prepared by initial drilling to gain access through the sphenoid sinus. In the longer term, curved instruments may help surgeons reach other locations at the skull base including the tuberculum sella, which is nearly inaccessible endonasally today [12].