title: Recurrent plurihormonal bimorphous pituitary adenoma producing growth hormone, thyrotropin, and prolactin.
abstract: A 48-year-old man with visual disturbances and subtle features of acromegaly had elevated serum thyrotropin (thyroid-stimulating hormone) levels but was clinically euthyroid and initially had normal blood growth hormone (GH) levels. A computed tomographic scan documented a large pituitary tumor; he underwent incomplete transsphenoidal adenomectomy. Postoperative octreotide treatment failed to shrink the tumor. Rising GH levels necessitated repeated transsphenoidal and, subsequently, frontotemporal resection. By histology, the tumor was a chromophobic adenoma. In the first specimen, immunocytochemistry localized GH, beta-thyrotropin, and alpha-subunit of glycoprotein hormones in adenoma cells. The second specimen also contained prolactin, whereas the third contained only GH and beta-thyrotropin. By electron microscopy, the tumor was bimorphous, composed of elongated thyrotrophs and densely granulated somatotrophs. In tissue culture, the first specimen released GH, thyrotropin, and alpha-subunit and smaller quantities of prolactin; the second specimen released only GH and alpha-subunit; and the third released GH, thyrotropin, alpha-subunit, and prolactin. Incubation with somatorelin (GH-releasing hormone) variably stimulated release of all four hormones in the first and third specimens; protirelin (thyrotropin-releasing hormone) had no effect. Somatostatin consistently inhibited release of all four hormones; inhibition by bromocriptine mesylate was variable. The mild degree of clinical and biochemical acromegaly is unusual for a large macroadenoma, and the reasons for the absence of hyperthyroidism are unclear. These discrepancies may be attributed to retarded hormone release and/or synthesis due to suppression by somatostatin in vivo.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, 20th of November Hospital, ISSSTE, Mexico City, Mexico.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Felix
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Asa
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kovacs
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Horvath
authors.forename: H S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Smyth
mesh_terms: D000236:Adenoma / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D046508:Culture Techniques; D013006:Growth Hormone / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D011388:Prolactin / Q000378:metabolism*; D013972:Thyrotropin / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D011388:Prolactin; D013972:Thyrotropin; D013006:Growth Hormone