Open AccessAcromegaly with no pituitary adenoma and no evidence of ectopic source
Author(s) -
Deepak Khandelwal,
Rajesh Khadgawat,
Amar Mukund,
Ashish Suri
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
indian journal of endocrinology and metabolism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.456
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 2230-9500
pISSN - 2230-8210
DOI - 10.4103/2230-8210.84878
Subject(s) - acromegaly , medicine , pituitary adenoma , adenoma , magnetic resonance imaging , growth hormone–releasing hormone , endocrinology , growth hormone , radiology , hormone
More than 99% of patients with acromegaly harbor a growth hormone (GH) secreting pituitary adenoma. As the time from onset of signs/symptoms to diagnosis of acromegaly is long (symptom onset to diagnosis is often 4-10 years), pituitary adenomas that cause GH excess are often large and are nearly always visible on conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, in rare circumstances, acromegalic patients without an ectopic source will not have imaging evidence of a pituitary adenoma. Management of these patients poses special challenge, and once ectopic source of GH/growth-hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) is ruled out, an exploration of pituitary might be useful. We herein report a case of acromegaly with imaging evidence of sellar floor osteoma, but no pituitary adenoma, and negative work up for an ectopic source of GH/GHRH tumor, and on surgical exploration pituitary adenoma could be identified and removed and confirmed on histopathologic examination.