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Updated: Oct 4, 2026

Endoscopic Endonasal Trans-sphenoidal Approach: Minimally Invasive Surgery for Pituitary Adenomas
Published on: January 17, 2018
Cushing's disease due to plurihormonal adrenocorticotropic hormone and gonadotropin-producing pituitary adenoma
R Egensperger1, B W Scheithauer, E Horvath
1Department of Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
Abstract:
A 67-year-old woman presented with clinical features of hypercortisolism in association with an invasive pituitary macroadenoma. Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-dependent Cushing's disease was documented, and the resected tumor was chromophobic, weakly positive with periodic-Schiff reagent, and showed immunostaining for ACTH and beta-endorphin in a minority of adenoma cells. Both luteinizing hormone and alpha-subunit staining were also observed, but no follicle-stimulating hormone reactivity was seen. Ultrastructurally, the tumor showed typical features of a gonadotroph adenoma of female type. Immunoelectron microscopy showed that ACTH was not produced in corticotrophs, but in cells with the characteristic features of gonadotrophs. This represents the second report of a plurihormonal gonadotroph adenoma producing sufficient ACTH to result in pituitary-dependent Cushing's disease.
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