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Published on: January 17, 2018
Subclinical adenomas in postmortem pituitaries: classification and correlations to clinical data
Hilke Buurman1, Wolfgang Saeger
1Institute of Pathology of the Marienkrankenhaus Hamburg, Alfredstr. 9, D-22087, Hamburg, Germany.
European Journal of Endocrinology
|April 29, 2006
Summary
Postmortem pituitary adenomas, identified using immunostaining, show distinct type proportions and behaviors compared to surgical cases. This study classified 334 adenomas from 316 pituitaries, finding sparsely granulated prolactin cell adenomas most common.
Area of Science:
- Endocrinology
- Pathology
- Oncology
Background:
- Pituitary adenomas are common tumors, but their characteristics in postmortem studies may differ from surgically resected cases.
- Understanding these differences is crucial for accurate classification and potential clinical correlations.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate pituitary adenomas in a large postmortem series using advanced immunostaining techniques.
- To classify these adenomas according to the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria.
- To analyze potential associations between adenoma types and available clinical data.
Main Methods:
- Examination of 3048 autopsy pituitaries from 1991-2004.
- Application of modern immunostaining for adenoma classification.
- Review of clinical data for correlations.
Main Results:
- 334 pituitary adenomas were identified in 316 pituitaries.
- Sparsely granulated prolactin cell adenomas (39.5%) were the most frequent type, followed by null cell adenomas (22.5%) and oncocytomas (9.3%).
- Clinical data revealed high prevalence of hypertension (99 cases) and diabetes mellitus (65 cases) among cases with adenomas, with no reported symptoms of hormone hypersecretion.
Conclusions:
- Postmortem pituitary adenomas exhibit different proportions of adenoma types compared to surgical series.
- The biological behavior of pituitary adenomas may vary between postmortem and surgical cohorts.
- Further research is needed to fully elucidate the clinical implications of these findings.
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