ASSESSMENT AND COMPARISON OF HORMONAL IMMUNOEXPRESSION AND THE CLINICAL PICTURE IN PATIENTS WITH PITUITARY ADENOMAS

Area of Science:

• Endocrinology
• Oncology
• Pathology

Background:

• Clinical symptoms of hormone hypersecretion in pituitary adenomas may not align with immunohistochemical staining results.
• Understanding this discrepancy is crucial for accurate diagnosis and treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the correlation between hormone immunoexpression in pituitary adenomas and their clinical endocrine presentations.
• To evaluate the utility of a novel morphometric method for assessing pituitary adenoma pathology.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of clinical data and immunoexpression of 72 pituitary adenoma specimens from transsphenoidal surgery.
• Utilized a morphometric method incorporating an immunoexpression index for precise evaluation.

Main Results:

• Significant correlations were found between specific hormone immunoexpressions and clinical diagnoses: prolactin with hyperprolactinemia, growth hormone with acromegaly, and ACTH with Cushing's syndrome.
• Macroadenomas comprised 70.84% of cases; plurihormonal and immunonegative adenomas were common.
• The immunoexpression index proved highly precise in evaluating pituitary adenoma pathology.

Conclusions:

• Discrepancies between clinical presentation and immunohistochemistry in pituitary adenomas are often due to nonfunctioning, plurihormonal adenomas, or unreliable specimens.
• The developed morphometric method, using the immunoexpression index, provides a precise tool for pituitary adenoma pathology assessment.