Clinical, Neuroimaging and Histological Characteristics of Non-functioning Pituitary Adenoma in Patients with Growth Hormone Deficiency

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the clinical and diagnostic markers of tumor aggressiveness that are predictive of tumor recurrence in patients with non-functioning pituitary adenoma (NFPA) and growth hormone deficiency (GHD). A total of 87 patients with NFPA and GHD were enrolled in the study, including 31 patients after transsphenoidal hypophysectomy (postoperative follow-up from 1 to 3 years). The mean age of patients was 32.2±2.5 years. The search for clinical and diagnostic markers of NFPA aggressiveness that are predictive of tumor recurrence after transsphenoidal hypophysectomy revealed a direct correlation with such risk factors as the young age of the patient, large tumor size, asymmetry and deformation of the pituitary gland, signs of tumor invasion into surrounding tissues, arteries, and cavernous sinus, panhypopituitarism, and the small-cell and/or dark-cell chromophobic adenomas. Preliminary data as well as a number of studies, confirm that predictors of pituitary tumor recurrence and markers of persistent disease activity still have to be identified in order to improve the long-term management of NFPA.

Keywords

• non-functioning pituitary adenoma
• transsphenoidal hypophysectomy
• pituitary gland
• growth hormone deficiency