[[1909]]
Allen Buckner Kanavel (1874-1938), a self-instructed innovator in brain, spine and peripheral nerve surgery, is first to describe the infranasal [[transsphenoidal approach]] to the [[pituitary gland]]. With his colleague, urologist Victor Lespinasse, Kanavel attempts unsuccessfully to treat [[hydrocephalus]] in two infants by coagulating the [[choroid plexus]] through a [[cystoscope]] introduced into the [[ventricular system]].