The Importance of Clinical and Diagnostic Markers of Aggression of Non-Functional Pituitary Adenomas

Abstract

Sixty patients with non-functional pituitary adenomas were observed. Most patients had large-cell chromophobe pituitary adenomas (81.6%). Small-cell chromophobe adenomas occurred in 10 % cases. Only 1 patient (3.3 %) had giant carcinoma with regrowth and metastasis into the brain. Markers of aggression of non-functional pituitary adenomas are the young age of a patient, expressed first symptoms of disease manifestation, large size of tumor, asymmetry and deformation of pituitary, invasion of tumor to the neighboring tissues/arteries/cavernous sinus, presence of small cell and dark-cell chromophobe adenoma, panhypopituitarism.

Keywords

• non-functional pituitary adenomas
• markers of aggression