Pituitary-adrenal axis in pinealoma.
Autopsy series of 19 patients with pineal and anterior third ventricle (suprasellar) tumors were analyzed with regard to shift in pituitary-adrenal axis. Germinomas formed the most common subgroup in this series (79%). Metastatic tumor growth in the pituitary gland caused adrenal atrophy in 4 cases. Some patients with pineal neoplasms had larger adrenals in weight compared with age- and sex-matched controls of Japanese. In three patients with sexual precocity, adrenal weight was larger. It is concluded that clinical importance exists in anterior pituitary insufficiency with adrenal atrophy, but hyperfunction of the hypophyseoadrenal system might occur during the course of the disease.
D000293:Adolescent; D000311:Adrenal Glands / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006965:Hyperplasia; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009929:Organ Size; D010871:Pinealoma / Q000473:pathology*; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000473:pathology*; D013724:Teratoma / Q000473:pathology