Pituitary apoplexy in an acromegalic patient during bromocriptine therapy

1985 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 288-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoine Alhajje ◽  
Michel Lambert ◽  
Jean Crabbé

✓ The authors report a case of pituitary apoplexy that developed in a patient shortly after bromocriptine therapy was started for a growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenoma. The tumor was associated with visual impairment and ocular palsies, and was treated by transsphenoidal decompression. Although spontaneous tumor necrosis cannot be excluded, a causal role of bromocriptine treatment is suggested.

1998 ◽  
Vol 88 (6) ◽  
pp. 1111-1115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kalman Kovacs ◽  
Eva Horvath ◽  
Lucia Stefaneanu ◽  
Juan Bilbao ◽  
William Singer ◽  
...  

✓ The authors report on the morphological features of a pituitary adenoma that produced growth hormone (GH) and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). This hormone combination produced by a single adenoma is extremely rare; a review of the available literature showed that only one previous case has been published. The tumor, which was removed from a 62-year-old man with acromegaly, was studied by histological and immunocytochemical analyses, transmission electron microscopy, immunoelectron microscopy, and in situ hybridization. When the authors used light microscopy, the tumor appeared to be a bimorphous mixed pituitary adenoma composed of two separate cell types: one cell population synthesized GH and the other ACTH. The cytogenesis of pituitary adenomas that produce more than one hormone is obscure. It may be that two separate cells—one somatotroph and one corticotroph—transformed into neoplastic cells, or that the adenoma arose in a common stem cell that differentiated into two separate cell types. In this case immunoelectron microscopy conclusively demonstrated ACTH in the secretory granules of several somatotrophs. This was associated with a change in the morphological characteristics of secretory granules. Thus it is possible that the tumor was originally a somatotropic adenoma that began to produce ACTH as a result of mutations that occurred during tumor progression.


1979 ◽  
Vol 51 (6) ◽  
pp. 866-869 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip H. Gutin ◽  
William G. Cushard ◽  
Charles B. Wilson

✓ A patient with a pituitary adenoma secreting adrenocorticotropin hormone manifested panhypopituitarism after an episode of pituitary apoplexy. The previously elevated urinary levels of 17-ketogenic steroids dropped sharply, and plasma cortisol became undetectable. The apoplexy also resulted in a partially empty sella on which the dorsum sellae collapsed. Recurrent Cushing's disease developed and was cured by transsphenoidal resection of a microadenoma.


1986 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 140-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nobuo Hashimoto ◽  
Hajime Handa ◽  
Shogo Nishi

✓ A 48-year-old woman developed multiple intracranial and intraspinal metastases from an invasive growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenoma after surgery and radiation therapy. This is the first reported case to show that the cells in the metastatic tumors and in the cerebrospinal fluid contained growth hormone.


1981 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susumu Wakai ◽  
Takanori Fukushima ◽  
Akira Teramoto ◽  
Keiji Sano

✓ 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.


1978 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles B. Wilson ◽  
Lawrence C. Dempsey

✓ In a series of 250 pituitary adenomas, 72 (28.8%) were nonsecreting and 178 (71.2%) produced a hypersecretion syndrome: human growth hormone (83), prolactin (59), and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) (36). One-fifth had received prior treatment and one-fourth had visual impairment. The technical aspects of the trans-sphenoidal procedure are given with separate consideration of microadenomas and larger tumors. The results are provided in summary form with emphasis on the favorable outcome following removal of microadenomas. There was one postoperative death, and the complications observed after operation are presented.


2001 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 285-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hidetoshi Ikeda ◽  
Hidefumi Jokura ◽  
Takashi Yoshimoto

Object. The results of combined transsphenoidal surgery and adjuvant gamma knife surgery (GKS) for growth hormone (GH)—secreting adenoma were investigated using biochemical cure criteria for surgery and biological cure criteria for adjuvant GKS. Methods. Ninety patients (42 male and 48 female patients), ranging from 11 to 75 years of age, underwent transsphenoidal surgery for GH-secreting pituitary adenoma. Preoperative and postoperative GH and insulin-like growth factor-I levels were measured, as was the postoperative GH level after the oral glucose tolerance test. Tumor size, cavernous sinus (CS) invasion, and residual tumor were evaluated using magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Transsphenoidal microsurgery was performed, followed by adjuvant GKS when there was persistent biochemical evidence of GH hypersecretion with residual tumor detectable in the CS on MR imaging. Patients in whom GKS was contraindicated were treated with conventional radiotherapy or by medical means. Conclusions. The overall surgical cure rate was 57% based on recently accepted biochemical cure criteria. Patients with no CS invasion achieved a 100% cure rate, whereas patients with CS invasion achieved an 82% cure rate (14 of 17 patients) after adjuvant GKS. The combination of transsphenoidal microsurgery and adjuvant GKS is the optimal therapy for patients with GH-secreting adenoma.


1986 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 510-512 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazem Abbassioun ◽  
Vahab Fatourehchi ◽  
Abbass Amirjamshidi ◽  
Nemotallah Aghai Meibodi

✓ The authors report the cases of three brothers with pituitary adenomas who had classical findings of acromegaly and gigantism. Two had irreducibly elevated growth hormone (GH) values and underwent transsphenoidal microsurgical extirpation of their tumors. The third acromegalic brother had a normal GH value and evidence of panhypopituitarism; he had a small intrasellar tumor and a partially empty sella. The pattern of inheritance was probably autosomal recessive. A review of literature indicated that familial incidence of isolated acromegaly with pituitary adenomas is rare.


1981 ◽  
Vol 98 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tohru Yamaji ◽  
Miyuki Ishibashi ◽  
Kinori Kosaka ◽  
Takanori Fukushima ◽  
Tomokatsu Hori ◽  
...  

Abstract. Two cases of pituitary apoplexy occurring in the course of long-term bromocriptine therapy for active acromegaly are described. Although bromocriptine was effective in lowering serum growth hormone levels and concomitant clinical improvement was achieved, both patients developed an acute episode suggesting pituitary apoplexy when the therapy was continued for 6 and 24 months, respectively. Surgery verified marked haemorrhage and necrosis of an eosinophilic pituitary adenoma in each case. Bromocriptine may have suppressed the growth of these pituitary adenomas resulting in necrosis of the tumour, followed by haemorrhage into the adenoma. Pituitary apoplexy has not been documented as a complication of bromocriptine therapy. This report points out a possible role of bromocriptine in the development of this catastrophe and that careful follow-up is required when long-term treatment with bromocriptine is attempted.


1983 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Ebersold ◽  
Edward R. Laws ◽  
Bernd W. Scheithauer ◽  
Raymond V. Randall

✓ The authors report 13 patients with pituitary apoplexy who were treated at their institution between November, 1972, and September, 1982. The uncommon nature of this syndrome is suggested by the fact that, during this same period of time, 940 patients were treated for pituitary adenoma by transsphenoidal surgery. It is evident that prompt and accurate diagnosis of pituitary apoplexy is necessary to achieve optimal results from treatment. Although large hemorrhages occasionally necessitate craniotomy to decompress the suprasellar structures, usually this condition can be satisfactorily treated by transsphenoidal decompression and, in most cases, this is the procedure of choice.


1992 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 635-639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shigeru Nishizawa ◽  
Nobukazu Nezu ◽  
Kenichi Uemura

✓ Vascular contraction is induced by the activation of intracellular contractile proteins mediated through signal transduction from the outside to the inside of cells. Protein kinase C plays a crucial role in this signal transduction. It is hypothesized that protein kinase C plays a causative part in the development of vasospasm after subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). To verify this directly, the authors measured protein kinase C activity in canine basilar arteries in an SAH model with (γ-32P)adenosine triphosphate and the data were compared to those in a control group. Protein kinase C is translocated to the membrane from the cytosol when it is activated, and the translocation is an index of the activation; thus, protein kinase C activity was measured both in the cytosol and in the membrane fractions. Protein kinase C activity in the membrane in the SAH model was remarkably enhanced compared to that in the control group. The percentage of membrane activity to the total was also significantly greater in the SAH vessels than in the control group, and the percentage of cytosol activity in the SAH group was decreased compared to that in the control arteries. The results indicate that protein kinase C in the vascular smooth muscle was translocated to the membrane from the cytosol and was activated when SAH occurred. It is concluded that this is direct evidence for a key role of protein kinase C in the development of vasospasm.


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