Pituitary
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TBI is one of the most important public health problems in the world. Although the relationship between TBI and hypopituitarism has been known for a long time, neuroendocrine changes were investigated in detail recently. The prevalence of neuroendocrine abnormalities in patients with TBI is very high. ⋯ In a recent study, pituitary functions in amateur boxers have been investigated and it has been reported that boxing is a cause of TBI and isolated GH deficiency is very common among amateur boxers. It seems that acute or chronic head trauma in sports is a possible cause of hypopituitarism. In this review, current data regarding TBI in sports are discussed.
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Case Reports
Simultaneous symptomatic Rathke's cleft cyst and GH secreting pituitary adenoma: a case report.
A case of symptomatic Rathke's cleft cyst and growth hormone (GH) secreting pituitary adenoma is described. A patient presented with a visual field deficit and a brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study demonstrated compression of the optic chiasm by a large suprasellar cyst and a small lesion in the sellar consistent with a microadenoma. Preoperative clinical evaluation revealed mild acromegalic features, glucose intolerance, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and carpel tunnel syndrome, and blood testing confirmed an elevated insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). ⋯ The patient had an uneventful postoperative course with resolution of the visual field deficits and dysmenorrhea. Endocrine testing at two-month post procedure were normal. While there have been a small number of cases reported of concomitant pituitary adenomas and Rathke's cleft cysts, there is no report known to these authors of coexisting symptomatic lesions.
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Pituitary tuberculomas are extremely rare lesions, with only few cases described in the literature, usually mistaken as pituitary tumors. Its heterogeneous clinical and imaging profile preclude preoperative diagnosis which ultimately relies on the histopathological examination. We describe a 46 years old woman who presented with an episode of confusion and hypopituitarism with no evidence of systemic tuberculosis. ⋯ A caseous material was found at the center of the lesion involved by a thick wall. Due to the wall adherence to the optic chiasm and the inflammatory aspects of the lesion, subtotal removal was achieved and the patient followed on anti-tuberculous and hormonal replacement therapy. Sellar tuberculomas should be considered in the differential diagnosis of sellar tumors in order to offer appropriate treatment.
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Comparative Study
Gender-related differences in growth hormone-releasing pituitary adenomas. A clinicopathological study.
Pituitary adenomas are the third most common primary intracranial neoplasm, after astrocytomas and meningiomas, and about 30% of them secrete growth hormone (GH). Other subtypes of pituitary tumors are characterized by well-known gender-related differences, not only in clinical presentation and other biological characteristics but also in surgical outcome. For GH-releasing pituitary adenomas, however, detailed data on gender differences of postsurgical treatment are not available. ⋯ The clinical course and tumor biology of GH-releasing pituitary adenomas appear to differ in women and men. Men demonstrated a shorter preoperative duration of symptoms, larger and more invasive tumors, and a worse clinical outcome. These findings suggest that therapy for GH-releasing adenomas should be more aggressive in men than in women. The gender-related differences in GH-releasing pituitary adenomas appear to have a basis in different biologic behavior, which warrants further investigation.
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Endoscopy has been adopted for transsphenoidal pituitary surgery. A rigid rod-lens endoscope, 4-mm in diameter and 18 cm in length, is used in replacement of the operating microscope. This endoscopic technique utilizes the patient's natural nasal air passage as a surgical corridor without a sublabial or nasal mucosal incision. ⋯ An angled lens endoscope enables the surgeon to operate on tumors located in the suprasellar region under direct visualization. When the adoption of endoscopy in transsphenoidal pituitary surgery had demonstrated obvious advantages over conventional microscopic surgery, the use of this endoscopic endonasal technique has been expanded to include other skull base lesions at the anterior fossa skull base, cavernous sinus, clivus and clival posterior fossa. In this chapter, the author describes the evolution of this endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery, the pertinent sinonasal anatomy related to transsphenoidal endoscopy, the details of endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal pituitary surgery, surgical approaches to the other skull base lesions, surgical results, and potential complications and their avoidance.