Clinical and endocrine aspects of pituitary tumors.
OBJECTIVE
To study the clinical spectrum and endocrine profile of pituitary tumors presenting to a tertiary care endocrine center.


METHODS
Retrospective analysis of clinical and hormonal data of patients with pituitary tumors admitted in the Endocrinology Department of Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, Kashmir India between January 1989 and December 1998.


RESULTS
Over a period of one decade, 75 subjects were diagnosed to have pituitary tumors. Somatotroph adenoma was the most common pituitary mass lesion seen (44/75) and followed in the decreasing order of frequency, by non-functioning pituitary tumor (12/75), prolactinoma (11/75) and corticotroph adenoma (8/75). Overall there was a male preponderance (male to female ratio was 41:34). Subjects with somatotroph adenoma presented with classical features of acromegaly: mean fasting and post glucose suppression growth hormone levels were 34.04+/-11.67 and 36.47+/-6.64 ng/ml. Eleven subjects (9 females and 2 males) had prolactinoma; females presented with the classical symptom complex of amenorrhea-galactorrhea while males presented with headache, visual disturbances and impotence. The 12 subjects with nonfunctioning pituitary tumors presented with features of mass lesion. Of the 8 subjects (6 females and 2 males) with corticotroph adenomas, 2 were confirmed to have periodic hormonogenesis.


CONCLUSIONS
In an endocrine center, functioning pituitary tumors are more often seen than non-functioning tumors.
Zargar
Abdul H
AH
Department of Endocrinology, Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, Kashmir, India. abdulhamidz@vsnl.com
Laway
Bashir A
BA
Masoodi
Shariq R
SR
Salahuddin
Mohammad
M
Ganie
Mohammad A
MA
Bhat
Mohammad H
MH
Wani
Arshad I
AI
Bashir
Mir I
MI
D000236:Adenoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D000238:Adenoma, Chromophobe / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D015995:Prevalence; D011379:Prognosis; D015175:Prolactinoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D015996:Survival Rate