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Updated: Jul 9, 2026
Endoscopic Endonasal Trans-sphenoidal Approach: Minimally Invasive Surgery for Pituitary Adenomas
Published on: January 17, 2018
An intrasellar rhabdomyosarcoma misdiagnosed as pituitary adenoma
Jun Zhong1, Shi-Ting Li, Xiao-Hong Yao
1Department of Neurosurgery, XinHua Hospital, Shanghai JiaoTong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200092, People's Republic of China. zhongmdphd@126.com
Background:
Rhabdomyosarcoma is a malignant tumor of the skeletal muscle cells. Those tumors mainly affect children and arise in primitive fetal mesenchyme even at sites that do not contain skeletal muscle. However, very few intracranial rhabdomyosarcomas have been reported. No previous case of primary intrasellar rhabdomyosarcoma except for 1 case has been reported in the literature.
Case Description:
A 44-year-old woman presented with fatigue and diplopia associated with amenorrhea and galactorrhea. Visual field evaluation revealed a superior temporal deficit in both eyes. A right afferent pupillary defect was present. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed an intrasellar tumor with suprasellar extension. The tumor involved the sella turcica and right cavernous sinus. The patient was preoperatively diagnosed as pituitary adenoma, which was confirmed pathologically as rhabdomyosarcoma after the operation.
Conclusions:
Our findings suggest that rhabdomyosarcoma should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a primary intrasellar neoplasm.
