Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Secondary hormonal deficiencies (SHD) are frequently observed in patients with pituitary adenomas. We previously reported that pituitary tumour clinical subtypes were associated with specific patterns of SHD, and nonfunctioning adenomas (NFAs) were more likely to present with multiple SHD. We extended our work to examine if the immunohistochemical staining patterns of NFAs impacted SHD.

Methods: All clinically NFAs surgically removed between November 2005 to December 2018 were identified through the Halifax Neuropituitary database. A total of 135 patients met the inclusion criteria and their pathology specimens were analyzed. NFAs were classified based on those without any hormonal staining or those staining with either/or growth hormone (GH), adrenocorticotropin (ACTH), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and prolactin (PRL). We reviewed their pattern of SHD at presentation.

Results: Of the 135 patients, 78 showed positive immunoreactivity to at least one of the above pituitary hormones while 57 showed no staining; 75 patients had SHD, while 60 patients had no evidence of SHD at presentation. As expected, macroadenomas were more likely to be associated with SHD than microadenomas (P<0.001). When comparing SHD patterns, tumors with and without any staining there were significant differences in the patterns of SHD regardless of tumour size (P<0.01). Patients with TSH staining tumors were overall more likely to experience SHD (P<0.01).

Conclusion: This novel study will allow us to understand the relationship between tumor pathology and SHD. The analyzed data suggests that SHD patterns vary based on the immunohistochemical profile of NFA.