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Pituitary tumors in the elderly.

M Kurosaki¹, W Saeger, D K Lüdecke

¹Institute of Pathology, Marienkrankenhaus, Hamburg, Germany.

Pathology, Research and Practice

|August 3, 2001

Summary

Pituitary tumors are common in the elderly, especially at autopsy. While surgical cases over 80 rarely show these tumors, autopsy studies reveal a significant incidence of clinically inactive pituitary adenomas.

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Area of Science:

Endocrinology
Neuropathology
Geriatric Medicine

Background:

Pituitary tumors are a significant concern in the elderly population.
Understanding the incidence and characteristics of these tumors in older adults is crucial for diagnosis and management.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the incidence and immunohistochemical features of pituitary tumors in individuals over 80 years of age.
To compare findings from surgical cases with those from autopsy studies.

Main Methods:

Analysis of 15 surgical pituitary tumor cases from patients over 80.
Examination of 692 pituitaries from routine autopsies of individuals over 80.
Immunohistochemical characterization of tumor tissues.

Main Results:

In surgical cases, macroadenomas causing chiasmatic syndromes were common, with gonadotroph adenomas being the most frequent type.
Autopsy studies revealed a high incidence (11.4%) of pituitary adenomas, mostly microadenomas, with ACTH cell adenomas being most common.
Many tumors showed positivity for anterior pituitary hormones but were clinically inactive.

Conclusions:

Pituitary adenomas are frequently discovered incidentally in the elderly via autopsy, contrasting with their lower prevalence in surgical series of the same age group.
The majority of incidentally found pituitary adenomas in the elderly are clinically silent and immunohistochemically diverse.

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