Sellar lesion: Not always a pituitary adenoma

Abstract

Inflammatory lesions of the hypophysis account for 0.5% of all symptomatic diseases of the pituitary, which include lymphocytic hypophysitis, granulomatous hypophysitis with or without specific etiology and pituitary abscess. Sellar tuberculoma is a rare type of granulomatous hypophysitis. We document a case of a postmenopausal lady who presented with galactorrhea, headache and blurring of vision. Based on preliminary investigations, a clinical diagnosis of pituitary adenoma was made and the pituitary gland was surgically excised. Histopathological examination showed caseating granulomas, along with normal areas of preserved pituitary gland and a final diagnosis of tuberculous hypophysitis was made. This case is being documented due to the extremely rare involvement of the pituitary gland by granulomatous lesions such as tuberculosis and to emphasize the role of intraoperative consultation to obviate the need for radical surgery in such lesions.

Keywords

• Granulomatous hypophysitis
• pituitary gland
• tuberculosis