Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Pituitary incidentaloma is a relatively frequent imagistic finding. Since no therapy is necessary, the follow up protocol is the most important in patients’ approach.

Aim: We present a study in patients diagnosed with pituitary incidentaloma, admitted in I.Parhon, Bucharest, between 1999 and 2011.

Patients and method: This is a retrospective study in 140 patients, diagnosed with pituitary incidentaloma based on CT or MRI. We included asymptomatic patients to whom an incidental imagistic scan found the pituitary tumor of less than 1 cm. The informed consent was obtained.

Results: One hundred and forty patients (p) were included. The female/male ratio was 130/10. The av. age was 40.84±13.3 years, with ranges between 14 and 72 years. The av. values of pituitary hormones were normal according to patients’ age: prolactine 14.18±12.18 ng/ml, FSH 43.97±55.08 mUI/ml, LH 16.93±19.01 mUI/ml, TSH 2.52 μUI/ml, ACTH 35.52 ±19.15 pg/ml. The secretor profile was found in one patient with prolactinoma that was ruled out. 3 p had bilateral incidentalomas. The av. transverse diameter was 0.57±0.2 mm, and vertical diameter 0.39±0.15 mm. 69 p had at least one evaluation in av. 35.33±27.39 months (ranges from 6 to 108 months). For these patients, the initial av. transverse, respective vertical diameters were: 0.538±0.17 mm, 0.374±0.09 mm. The av. final values were: 0.545±0.174, respective 0.368±0.09 mm. The student ttest between initial and follow up evaluations was no statistically significant. In 25p increased the transverse diameter with av. 0.159±0.119 mm, and in 32p the diameter decreased with 0.158±0.132 mm. In 19 p the vertical diameter increased with 0.122±0.182 mm, and in 37 p decreased with 0.115±0.128 mm. In one case, the microadenoma increased to 110 mm.

Conclusions: Based on our study, once the non-secretor profile is established, the diagnosis of incidentaloma is sustained,and a follow up CT is not necessary sooner than 3 years.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.