Pituitary adenomas in pediatric patients: are they more invasive?

Twenty patients with biopsy proven pituitary adenomas that became symptomatic prior to the age of 20 years are reviewed. Based on age, the patients are divided into prepubertal, pubertal, and postpubertal groups. An increased incidence of invasiveness was observed in those patients with onset of symptoms during the pubertal years compared to patients whose symptoms first occurred during the postpubertal years. Other series of pediatric pituitary adenomas in the English literature are reviewed, and ostensibly disparate conclusions are examined.