title: Bronchial carcinoid tumors metastatic to the sella turcica and review of the literature.
abstract: We review here the literature on neuroendocrine neoplasms metastatic to the pituitary and present an example of the disease. Metastasis of bronchial carcinoid tumors to the sellar region are rare. Herein, we describe the case of a 63-year-old woman who presented with constant cough and headaches. She had previously been operated for carcinoid tumor of the lung. During the preoperative investigation, a CT scan of the head revealed a sellar mass. Six months after a left lower lobectomy, the sellar lesion was removed by transsphenoidal surgery. The two tumors were evaluated by histology, immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. Both showed identical morphologic features, those of carcinoid tumor. Immunohistochemistry revealed immunoreactivity for the endocrine markers, synaptophysin and chromogranin, as well as CD-56, serotonin, bombesin and vascular endothelial growth factor. The sellar neoplasm showed nuclear immunopositivity for thyroid transcription factor-1, supporting the diagnosis of a metastatic bronchial carcinoid tumor. In conclusion, this is the first report of a serotonin- and bombesin-immunopositive atypical bronchial carcinoid tumor metastatic to the sella.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine, Peterborough Regional Health Centre, 1 Hospital Drive, Peterborough, ON, K9J 7C6, Canada. omoshkin@gmail.com
authors.forename: Olga
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Moshkin
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rotondo
authors.forename: Bernd W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Scheithauer
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soares
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Coire
authors.forename: Harley S
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Smyth
authors.forename: Miklos
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Goth
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Horvath
authors.forename: Kalman
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kovacs
mesh_terms: D001984:Bronchial Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism; D002276:Carcinoid Tumor / Q000150:complications* / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000556:secondary; D012658:Sella Turcica / Q000473:pathology*