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Glomus tumors of the sellar region are exceedingly rare with only two reported cases in the literature. A case of a sellar glomangioma in a 72-year-old man is described. The tumor had the radiographic and gross appearance of a pituitary adenoma. Microscopically, the tumor was composed of epithelioid cells surrounding prominent small vascular channels. The tumor cells had indistinct cell borders and monotonous nuclei. Histological and immunohistochemical analysis identified the sellar tumor as a glomangioma. Here, we report the clinicopathological features of a third case of a sellar glomus tumor and review the literature.

Surgical activity is perhaps the most important aspect of neurosurgical training 1 . The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada mandate that training programs provide an "adequate number of cases" in different categories for residents 2 . The adequate number of cases is not numerically defined 2 . There is no literature that guides residents or program directors to the minimum or average number of surgical cases required to graduate a competent neurosurgical trainee in Canada 3-5 . Currently, the program director must judge that the trainee can practice independently for successful graduation 3,4 . One aspect of this decision is based on evaluating the surgical competency of that trainee. There is no data available to verify a reliable prediction model of competency 3 . Although it is likely that most ABSTRACT: Introduction: Surgical activity is probably the most important component of surgical training. During the first year of surgical residency, there is an early opportunity for the development of surgical skills, before disparities between the skill sets of residents increase in future years. It is likely that surgical skill is related to operative volumes. There are no published guidelines that quantify the number of surgical cases required to achieve surgical competency. The aim of this study was to describe the current trends in surgical activity in a recent cohort of first-year Canadian neurosurgical trainees. Methods: This study utilized retrospective database review and survey methodology to describe the current state of surgical training for first-year neurosurgical trainees. A committee of five residents designed this survey in an effort to capture factors that may influence the operative activity of trainees. Results: Nine out of a cohort of 20 first-year Canadian neurosurgical trainees that began training in July of 2008 participated in the study. The median number of cases completed by a resident during the initial three month neurosurgical rotation was 66, within which the trainee was identified as the primary surgeon in 12 cases. Intracranial hemorrhage and cerebrospinal fluid diversion procedures were the most common operations to have the trainee as primary surgeon. Conclusion: Based on this pilot study, it appears that the operative activity of Canadian first-year residents is at least equivalent to the residents of other studied training systems with respect to volume and diversity of surgical activity.RÉSUMÉ: Activité chirurgicale des résidents canadiens en neurochirurgie au cours de leur première année de formation. Contexte : L'activité chirurgicale est probablement la composante la plus importante de la formation en chirurgie. La première année de résidence en chirurgie constitue une occasion de développer des habiletés chirurgicales tôt au cours de la formation, avant que les disparités entre les habiletés des résidents n'augmentent avec les années. Il est vraisemblable que les habiletés chirurgicales sont liées au volume chirurgical. Il n'existe pas de lignes directrices pu...