title: Case of the month. April 1996--pituitary tumor.
abstract: A 20 year old man presented with intermittent diplopia and difficulty focusing his leftward gaze during the past month. His past medical history was only significant for a dermoid cyst in the posterior fossa which was removed at age 10. MRI scans demonstrated a perisellar mass, eroding the sphenoid and surrounding the right carotid artery as well as extending into the sella. A transsphenoidal endoscopic resection was performed. The tumor was diagnosed as a germinoma (seminoma). Most germinomas in the brain arise in the pineal, however, germ cell neoplasms (including teratomas, germinomas and non-germinomatous germ cell neoplasms) are not unknown in the perisellar region and typically arise in the hypothalamic region and present with diabetes insipidus, visual disturbances or hypopituitism.
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh, Department of Pathology, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kohler
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase / Q000032:analysis; D015415:Biomarkers; D018237:Germinoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D018239:Seminoma / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D000469:Alkaline Phosphatase