Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Endoscopic Endonasal Trans-sphenoidal Approach: Minimally Invasive Surgery for Pituitary Adenomas
Published on: January 17, 2018
Prolactinoma with preferential infrasellar extension: a report of two cases
S Nishio1, T Morioka, S Fujiwara
1Department of Neurosurgery, Neurological Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan. shunji@ns.med.kyushu-u.ac.jp
Abstract:
The authors describe two male patients with prolactinomas which were incidentally found either during the course of a complete work up for headache or after minor head trauma. Since these tumours were located mainly in the sphenoid bone and did not show any upward growth to the suprasellar region, they were initially thought to be a primary skull base tumour; however, the serum prolactin levels of these patients were 1,179 ng/ml and 3,260 ng/ml, respectively. The authors thus emphasise the need to recognise this peculiar infrasellar growth pattern of prolactinoma.

