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Updated: Aug 21, 2026

Endoscopic Endonasal Trans-sphenoidal Approach: Minimally Invasive Surgery for Pituitary Adenomas
Published on: January 17, 2018
Clinical and endocrine aspects of pituitary tumors
Abdul H Zargar1, Bashir A Laway, Shariq R Masoodi
1Department of Endocrinology, Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, Kashmir, India. abdulhamidz@vsnl.com
Objective:
To study the clinical spectrum and endocrine profile of pituitary tumors presenting to a tertiary care endocrine center.
Methods:
Retrospective analysis of clinical and hormonal data of patients with pituitary tumors admitted in the Endocrinology Department of Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, Kashmir India between January 1989 and December 1998.
Results:
Over a period of one decade, 75 subjects were diagnosed to have pituitary tumors. Somatotroph adenoma was the most common pituitary mass lesion seen (44/75) and followed in the decreasing order of frequency, by non-functioning pituitary tumor (12/75), prolactinoma (11/75) and corticotroph adenoma (8/75). Overall there was a male preponderance (male to female ratio was 41:34). Subjects with somatotroph adenoma presented with classical features of acromegaly: mean fasting and post glucose suppression growth hormone levels were 34.04+/-11.67 and 36.47+/-6.64 ng/ml. Eleven subjects (9 females and 2 males) had prolactinoma; females presented with the classical symptom complex of amenorrhea-galactorrhea while males presented with headache, visual disturbances and impotence. The 12 subjects with nonfunctioning pituitary tumors presented with features of mass lesion. Of the 8 subjects (6 females and 2 males) with corticotroph adenomas, 2 were confirmed to have periodic hormonogenesis.
Conclusion:
In an endocrine center, functioning pituitary tumors are more often seen than non-functioning tumors.
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