Serum prolactin in patients with hypothalamus and pituitary disorders

1981 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 194-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Per Olov Lundberg ◽  
Per Olof Osterman ◽  
Leif Wide
Keyword(s):  
Pituitary Adenoma ◽  
Pituitary Adenomas ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Geometric Mean ◽  
High Serum ◽  
Serum Prolactin ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Sellar Tumor ◽  
Very High ◽  
Fine Print

✓ Serum prolactin concentrations were studied in 115 patients with anatomically defined disorders in the hypothalamo-pituitary region. Fifty of the patients had expansively growing pituitary adenomas; in 17 of them (13 females and four males) the prolactin values were slightly raised (15 to 100 µg/liter), and in 13 (11 females and two males) they were over 100 µg/liter. The frequency of elevated prolactin values was higher for females than for males. Fifteen patients with invasively growing pituitary adenomas had very high serum prolactin levels (range 1230 to 31,500 µg/liter, geometric mean 3150 µg/liter). In a single case of malignant pituitary adenoma, the serum prolactin was at the lower level of detection. Of 49 further patients with suprasellar meningiomas, craniopharyngiomas, or other expansive or destructive lesions of the hypothalamus and sellar region, 15 had slightly raised prolactin values (maximum 114 µg/liter). Eight of these 49 patients had sellar destruction, with a roentgenological picture similar to that in patients with invasive pituitary adenomas. Among these eight patients, the maximum prolactin value was 67 µg/liter. It is concluded that moderately raised serum prolactin values (up to 100 µg/liter) in a patient with a sellar tumor does not prove that the tumor is a prolactinoma. A serum prolactin value of 100 to 1000 µg/liter strongly indicates a prolactin-producing tumor. In a patient with sellar destruction, a serum prolactin value of over 1000 µg/liter is proof that the destruction is caused by an invasive pituitary adenoma.

Management of prolactinomas associated with very high serum prolactin levels

1988 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 554-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel L. Barrow ◽  
Junichi Mizuno ◽  
George T. Tindall
Keyword(s):  
Pituitary Adenomas ◽  
High Serum ◽  
Serum Prolactin ◽  
Treatment Control ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Preoperative Serum ◽  
Group A ◽  
Group B ◽  
Very High ◽  
Fine Print

✓ The authors have reviewed the results of transsphenoidal microsurgical management in 69 patients with prolactin-secreting pituitary adenomas who had preoperative serum prolactin levels over 200 ng/ml. The patients were divided into three groups based on their preoperative serum prolactin levels: over 200 to 500 ng/ml (Group A); over 500 to 1000 ng/ml (Group B); and over 1000 ng/ml (Group C). The percentage of successful treatment (“control rate”) was 68%, 30%, and 14%, respectively, in these three groups of patients. Based on these results, the authors offer guidelines for the management of patients with prolactin-secreting pituitary adenomas associated with exceptionally high serum prolactin levels. The surgical control rate of 68% in Group A seems to justify surgery for these patients, while primary medical care with bromocriptine is recommended for most patients with serum prolactin levels over 500 ng/ml.

Implications of very high serum prolactin levels associated with pituitary tumors

1980 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 226-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
William A. Shucart
Keyword(s):  
Cavernous Sinus ◽  
Tumor Size ◽  
Pituitary Tumors ◽  
High Serum ◽  
Serum Prolactin ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Invasive Tumor ◽  
Very High ◽  
Suprasellar Extension ◽  
Fine Print

✓ Five patients with pituitary tumors associated with unusually high serum prolactin levels are presented. Tumor size and the presence of suprasellar extension were variable, but the finding common to all five cases was invasion of the cavernous sinus. It is proposed that very high serum prolactin levels suggest an invasive tumor, perhaps, specifically, invasion into a cavernous sinus. The surgical significance of this proposition is discussed.

The specificity of serum prolactin as a diagnostic indicator of pituitary adenoma

1979 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saul Balagura ◽  
Andrew G. Frantz ◽  
Edgar M. Housepian ◽  
Peter W. Carmel
Keyword(s):  
Pituitary Adenoma ◽  
Neurological Disease ◽  
Pituitary Tumors ◽  
Serum Prolactin ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Regular Work ◽  
Work Up ◽  
Diagnostic Indicator ◽  
Fine Print ◽  
Rule Out

✓ Serum prolactin levels were determined in 205 patients with a variety of intracranial diseases, including 70 cases with pituitary tumors. It is concluded that although the absence of elevated prolactin levels does not help to rule out pituitary pathology, the presence of hyperprolactinemia is highly specific for diseases of the pituitary and hypothalamus, and prolactin determination should be part of the regular work-up of pituitary tumor suspects. Excluding known causes of hyperprolactinemia, such as tranquilizing drug ingestion, the presence of neurological disease outside the hypothalamic-pituitary area was not associated with increased serum prolactin concentrations.

Follow-up study with computerized tomography and clinical evaluation 5 to 10 years after surgery for pituitary adenoma

1980 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 144-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carin Muhr ◽  
Kjell Bergstrom ◽  
Paul Enoksson ◽  
Rune Hugosson ◽  
Per Olov Lundberg
Keyword(s):  
Pituitary Adenoma ◽  
Computerized Tomography ◽  
No Value ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Follow Up Study ◽  
Field Defect ◽  
Very High ◽  
Suprasellar Extension ◽  
Fine Print

✓ This study was based on 24 consecutive patients operated on for pituitary adenoma with suprasellar extension, and treated postoperatively with radiotherapy. The follow-up period was 5 to 10 years. A clinical examination, endocrine evaluation, perimetry, computerized tomography (CT) and sellar roentgenography were performed in 19 of 20 surviving patients. The CT scans revealed four recurrences, while perimetry only showed an increased visual field defect in one patient. Plain sellar films were of no value for diagnosis of recurrence. Prolactin determinations seemed to have a limited value in recurrence diagnosis, but very high levels spoke in favor of a recurrence. Thus, CT was found to be the superior method of diagnosing recurrences. It is proposed that CT be used regularly in the follow-up study of patients operated on for a pituitary adenoma.

Transsphenoidal microsurgery for prolactin-secreting pituitary adenomas

1982 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel A. Faria ◽  
George T. Tindall
Keyword(s):  
Pituitary Adenomas ◽  
Serum Prolactin ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Contrast Enhanced ◽  
Additional Surgery ◽  
Transsphenoidal Microsurgery ◽  
Group 2 ◽  
Diagnostic Work ◽  
Fine Print ◽  
Group 1

✓ The authors present the results of transsphenoidal microsurgery in 100 women with the amenorrhea-galactorrhea syndrome caused by pituitary adenomas associated with hyperprolactinemia (prolactinomas). As the surgical results were closely related to the preoperative levels of serum prolactin, the patients were divided into two groups: patients with preoperative prolactin less than 200 ng/ml (Group 1), and those with preoperative prolactin greater than 200 ng/ml (Group 2). The results in Group 1 (72 patients) were significantly better. In this group, 56 (78%) patients regained normal menstrual cycles, and 55 (76%) had return of elevated prolactin levels to normal following surgery. In Group 2 (28 patients), however, only 11 (39%) resumed normal menstrual periods postoperatively, and 13 (46%) had return of elevated prolactin levels to normal. There was good correlation between tumor size and the preoperative level of prolactin. Of the 72 women in Group 1, 58 (81%) had tumors less than 1 cm (microadenomas), whereas of the 28 women in Group 2, only four (14%) had tumors of that size. All patients with visual field deficits preoperatively improved or had a normal visual examination postoperatively; none was made worse by surgery. Four patients (three in Group 2) have required additional surgery and/or irradiation. In the last six patients of the series, contrast-enhanced coronal computerized tomography slices made with the updated General Electric scanner detected five microadenomas. Considering that a relatively high percentage of sellar polytomograms are negative in patients with proven microadenomas (that is, only 40 of 72 patients in Group 1 had abnormal polytomography), it is likely that sellar polytomography will significantly decrease in importance in the diagnostic work-up of these patients. The authors provide a rationale for transsphenoidal microsurgery in these patients as opposed to other forms of management, such as bromocriptine therapy and irradiation.

Anemia, testosterone, and pituitary adenoma in men

2003 ◽  
Vol 98 (5) ◽  
pp. 974-977 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dilantha B. Ellegala ◽  
Tord D. Alden ◽  
Daniel E. Couture ◽  
Mary L. Vance ◽  
Nicholas F. Maartens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pituitary Adenoma ◽  
Tumor Size ◽  
Pituitary Adenomas ◽  
Clinical Laboratory ◽  
Serum Testosterone ◽  
Testosterone Replacement Therapy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Testosterone Levels ◽  
Fine Print ◽  
Low Serum

Object. Older men with clinically nonfunctioning pituitary tumors have been noted to be anemic, to have hypopituitarism, and to have low serum levels of testosterone. The authors hypothesized that men with pituitary adenomas and hypogonadism have a physiologically related decrease in hematocrit. Methods. A retrospective analysis was conducted of 216 patients older than 50 years of age who harbored pituitary adenomas. In 100 men serum testosterone levels and a complete blood (cell) count (CBC) were obtained before treatment; a CBC was also acquired in a series of women with pituitary adenomas. Using clinical laboratory standards, anemia was defined as a hematocrit less than 40% in men and less than 35% in women. Thirty-one (46.3%) of 67 men with low serum concentrations of testosterone were anemic. In men with low levels of testosterone, the average hematocrit was 39.9%, compared with 45.6% for men with normal testosterone levels (p < 0.001). Men with macroadenomas were most likely to have both anemia and a low serum concentration of testosterone. Anemia was associated with a low level of testosterone, adjusting for tumor size (odds ratio 19, 95% confidence interval 4.86–77.03). Of patients with anemia, 84% were men and 16% were women (p < 0.001). The prevalence of anemia in women was low and was not correlated with tumor size. Men receiving testosterone replacement therapy had a significantly higher hematocrit value than men with low or normal testosterone levels. Conclusions. These findings support a direct relationship between serum testosterone levels and hematopoiesis in men, and demonstrate that hematopoiesis is compromised in men who have low concentrations of testosterone due to a pituitary adenoma.

Pituitary apoplexy: its incidence and clinical significance

1981 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susumu Wakai ◽  
Takanori Fukushima ◽  
Akira Teramoto ◽  
Keiji Sano
Keyword(s):  
Pituitary Adenoma ◽  
Pituitary Adenomas ◽  
Pituitary Apoplexy ◽  
Clinical Symptoms ◽  
Consecutive Series ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Histological Types ◽  
Hormonal Function ◽  
A Minor ◽  
Fine Print

✓ The occurrence of hemorrhage from pituitary adenoma (so-called “pituitary apoplexy”) was investigated in a consecutive series of 560 cases operated on during the past 30 years. There were 93 cases (16.6%) in which hemorrhage from pituitary adenomas was confirmed either clinically or surgically. These patients were analyzed in terms of age, sex, symptoms and signs, size of tumor, hormonal function, and histological types of adenomas, and computerized tomography findings. In 90 cases (16.1%), hematoma or old bloody fluid was verified within the tumor tissue at surgery. Three other patients presented with subarachnoid hemorrhage, but there was no detectable intratumor hematoma in any of them. Among these 93 patients, 42 (7.5%) showed no evidence of clinical symptoms related to hemorrhage (asymptomatic hemorrhage). Fifty-one patients (9.1%) had definite histories of an acute episode that suggested sudden bleeding (symptomatic hemorrhage: pituitary apoplexy). Thirty-eight patients (6.8%) had a major attack manifested by disturbances of consciousness, hemiparesis, loss of vision, or ocular palsy. In two acromegalic patients, pituitary apoplexy developed during bromocriptine treatment. There was one case of sudden death due to massive hemorrhage from the tumor 14 months after the completion of postoperative radiation therapy. The other 13 symptomatic patients (2.3%) developed a minor attack which included headache, nausea, vomiting, and vertigo. Bleeding from pituitary adenomas was not statistically correlated with any of the following factors: sex, hormonal function of adenomas, and histological types, but it was correlated with age. The number of asymptomatic cases in the third decade was significantly greater than that of the whole group of pituitary adenoma patients in the same decade. The present investigation revealed that the incidence of pituitary apoplexy was unexpectedly high: a major attack in 6.8% of pituitary adenoma patients, a minor attack in 2.3%, and asymptomatic hemorrhage in 7.5% of the cases. This risk of pituitary apoplexy should be kept in mind in treating pituitary adenomas.

Prolactinoma of pituitary with associated amyloid-like substances

1983 ◽  
Vol 59 (6) ◽  
pp. 1067-1070 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun-ichi Kuratsu ◽  
Yasuhiko Matsukado ◽  
Masaki Miura
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Pituitary Adenoma ◽  
Tumor Cells ◽  
Pituitary Adenomas ◽  
Light And Electron Microscopy ◽  
Rare Entity ◽  
Short History ◽  
Content Type ◽  
History Of ◽  
Fine Print

✓ A prolactin-secreting pituitary adenoma containing amyloid substance was studied by light and electron microscopy. The tumor was found in a 32-year-old woman who presented with a short history of amenorrhea and galactorrhea. Pituitary adenoma containing amyloid substance is a very rare entity, and the implications of this association are discussed. Previous reports, suggesting that mesenchymal cells or hormone-secreting tumor cells in pituitary adenomas produce amyloid substances, are reviewed.

Gamma knife radiosurgery for pituitary adenomas

2000 ◽  
Vol 93 (supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 19-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masahiro Izawa ◽  
Motohiro Hayashi ◽  
Kohtarou Nakaya ◽  
Hiroyuki Satoh ◽  
Taku Ochiai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pituitary Adenoma ◽  
Tumor Growth ◽  
Gamma Knife ◽  
Pituitary Adenomas ◽  
Gamma Knife Radiosurgery ◽  
Single Institution ◽  
Hormone Production ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Fine Print

Object. The purpose of this study was the analysis of a large series of patients treated with gamma knife radiosurgery for pituitary adenoma in a single institution. Methods. One hundred eight patients with pituitary adenomas were treated over the last 7 years. Seventy-four patients have been followed for more than 6 months and form the basis of this report. Conclusions. Twenty-three patients harbored nonfunctioning adenomas, and 56 harbored functioning adenomas. The mean margin dose was 22.5 Gy (nonfunctioning adenomas, 19.5 Gy; functioning adenomas, 23.8 Gy). Control of tumor growth was achieved in 91%. A significant decrease of excessive hormone production was seen in 80% of patients, and the endocrinological normalization rate was 30.3%. Postradiosurgical complications were seen in 2.5%.

Ectopic pituitary adenoma of the third ventricle

1990 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. K. Kleinschmidt-DeMasters ◽  
Ken R. Winston ◽  
David Rubinstein ◽  
Mary H. Samuels
Keyword(s):  
Pituitary Adenoma ◽  
Neurological Examination ◽  
Pituitary Adenomas ◽  
Sphenoid Sinus ◽  
Third Ventricle ◽  
Electron Microscopic ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Third ◽  
Ectopic Pituitary Adenoma ◽  
Fine Print

✓ Ectopic pituitary adenomas without associated intrasellar adenomas are rare and are usually located in the sphenoid sinus. Most have been reported without modern radiological, endocrinological, or electron microscopic (EM) documentation. The case of a 47-year-old man with a third ventricular, ectopic, clinically non-secretory pituitary adenoma, which was shown to be a gonadotrophic adenoma by immunohistochemical and EM study, is reported. Neurological examination, extensive neurodiagnostic imaging, surgical anatomical observation, and endocrinological evaluation showed no evidence of neoplasia outside the third ventricle.

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