Misplaced Pages

Pituitary adenoma

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Nunh-huh (talk | contribs) at 00:16, 18 September 2004 (temp save, back later...). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 00:16, 18 September 2004 by Nunh-huh (talk | contribs) (temp save, back later...)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

You must add a |reason= parameter to this Cleanup template – replace it with {{Cleanup|reason=<Fill reason here>}}, or remove the Cleanup template.

Pituitary adenomas are tumors that occur in the pituitary gland, and account for about 10% of intracranial neoplasms. They often remain undiagnosed, and small pituitary tumors are found in 6 to 24 percent of adults at autopsy.

Types

Pituitary tumors were, historically, classed as basophilic, acidophilic, or chromophobic on the basis of whether or not they took up the stains hematoxylin and eosin. This classification has fallen into disuse, in favor of a classification based on what type of hormone is secreted by the tumor (though tumors which do not secrete any active hormone ("non-functioning tumors" are still sometimes called "chromophobic").

At present, classification of pitutary tumors is based on immunohistochemical staining:

  • corticotrophic adenomas secrete (ACTH) and (POMC)
  • somatotrophic adenmoas secrete growth hormone (GH)
  • thyrotrophic adenomas secrete thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH)
  • gonadotrohic adenomas secrete luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and their subunits
  • lactrotrophic adenomas secrete prolactin
  • null cell adenomas do not secrete hormones

Diagnosis

The diagnosis is generally entertained either on the basis of visual difficulties arising from the compression of the optic nerve by the tumor, or on the basis of manifestations of excess hormone secretion: the specifics depend on the type of hormone. Tumors which cause visual difficulty are likety to be macroadenomas greater than 10 mm in diameter; tumors less than 10 mm are microadenomas.

The most common secretory pituitary tumor is the prolactinoma, which can cause galactorhea, hypogonadism, amenorrhea, infertility, and impotence. GH secrete

Treatment

Treatment is usually surgery and patients respond well. A subtype, prolactinomas are seen commonly in women, and is frequently diagnised during pregnancy as the hormone progesterone increases its growth. Efforts have been made to use a progesterone antagonist fot the treatment of prolactinomas, but so far have not proved successful.

This article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.