Clinical Evaluation on Non-Functional Invasive Hypophysis Adenomas

Abstract

Background: There are ongoing studies to predetermine non-functional invasive pituitary adenomas that may show aggressive behavior. Our aim is to discuss whether there is a relationship between the immunohistochemical presence of GH, FSH, LH, PRL, ACTH, TSH and their aggressive clinical course in non-functional pituitary adenomas. Materials and Methods: In this study, we evaluated retrospectively the files of the patients who were diagnosed with the sellar or parasellar tumor in our endocrinology clinic between the years of 2004 and 2014. The patients were divided into two groups as non-invasive pituitary adenomas and non-functional invasive pituitary adenomas. The immunohistochemical staining characteristics were compared between the two groups. Results: In this study, we scanned the data of 70 patients who were followed for non-functional sellar or parasellar mass; 47.1% of the patients were female and 52.9% were male. Of them, 39 patients had a non-functional pituitary adenoma whereas 20.5% of them had non-functional invasive adenoma. While there was a significant relationship between the immunohistochemical positivity of GH, FSH, LH and the aggressive behavior of non-functional invasive adenomas. no significant relationship was found between the immunohistochemical positivity of PRL, ACTH, TSH and the aggressive behavior of non-functional invasive adenomas. Conclusion: We found silent GH and gonadotropin adenomas as non-functional aggressive pituitary adenoma. More aggressive treatment and close clinical monitoring should be performed because atypical pituitary adenomas are characterized by invasive growth and aggressive clinical course.