What is a Non-Functioning Pituitary Tumor?
The majority of patients with pituitary adenomas present with signs and symptoms reflecting excess hormone production. Approximately 25-30% of patients with pituitary tumors do not have classical hypersecretory syndromes such as hyperprolactinemia, acromegaly or Cushing’s disease and present as the case described above. These tumors are referred to as clinically nonfunctioning adenomas (see Figure 1) Patients often present with signs of mass effects, including headaches and symptoms of pituitary insufficiency In addition, compression of the optic chiasm frequently results in temporal field deficits Recent progress in our ability to characterize and diagnose these tumors will be discussed here.
