Features of Clinical Course and Diagnosis of Patients with Family History of Non-Functioning Pituitary Adenomas

Abstract

The study of the incidence of non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPA) among relatives is important for the choice of strategy and tactics of treatment of these patients, for the development of methods for predicting the population in families with a genetic predisposition to the disease. The objective of the study — to investigate the features of clinical symptoms, their value in the differential diagnosis in a population of patients with sporadic and family history of NFPA. Materials and Methods. Patients with NFPA were divided into two alternatives: the first group — 50 (70.4 %) patients with environmental factors with no family history, and the second — 21 (29.6 %) patients with burdened family history, including the panmixia — 9 (2.7 %) and inbreeding — 12 (16.9 %) patients. Results. The patients in the population have characteristics between sporadic and hereditary NFPA both by the degree of severity of the clinical course, and by terms to identify the symptoms of the disease. In patients with familial NFPA main clinical symptoms of the disease have the following features — visual, sexual disorders, headaches, vegetative crises, menopause occur before the age of 20–25 years, and the time of diagnosis — 10–20 years; adenomas > 10 mm are being detected most often, they progress faster in giant adenomas, with more severe clinical course than in patients with non-familial NFPA. Conclusions. The familial form of NFPA and the development of clinical symptoms at an early age should be the subject of a diagnostic screening and considered as one of the modifying factors of the disease.

Keywords

• hypophysis
• adenoma
• diagnosis