title: Double pituitary adenomas: a series of three patients.
abstract: Multiple pituitary adenomas may occur in up to 1.6-3.3% of patients with Cushing's syndrome. We report three patients with double pituitary adenomas detected at surgery. Two patients had Cushing's disease, but trans-sphenoidal exploration revealed a small prolactinoma in each. One prolactinoma also contained small numbers of basophils. Re-operation in both patients because of persistent Cushing's syndrome showed an ACTH-secreting micro-adenoma. The third patient with acromegaly had two macro-adenomas discovered in different parts of the gland at surgery: one plurihormonal and one null cell tumour. Careful evaluation of pre-operative MRI may not always detect more than one pituitary adenoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomical Pathology, St Vincent's Hospital, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia. mckelvpa@svhm.org.au
authors.forename: Penelope A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: McKelvie
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: McNeill
mesh_terms: D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism; D000328:Adult; D003480:Cushing Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000737:chemistry / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D015175:Prolactinoma / Q000737:chemistry / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D012086:Reoperation; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000324:Adrenocorticotropic Hormone