REVIEW  ACROMEGALY TODAY FOR CLINICAL PRACTICE 

Minerva Endocrinologica 2019 June;44(2):137-42

DOI: 10.23736/S0391-1977.18.02946-2

Copyright © 2018 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Silent somatotropinomas

Cristina LAMAS ¹ ✉, Araceli GARCÍA-MARTÍNEZ ², Rosa CÁMARA ³, Carmen FAJARDO-MONTANANA ⁴, Legna VIGUERA ⁵, Ignacio ARANDA ⁶

¹ Department of Endocrinology, University Hospital of Albacete, Albacete, Spain; ² Research Laboratory, Institute for Health and Biomedical Research (ISABIAL), General University Hospital of Alicante, Alicante, Spain; ³ Department of Endocrinology, University Hospital of La Fe, Valencia, Spain; ⁴ Department of Endocrinology, University Hospital of La Ribera, Alzira, Spain; ⁵ Department of Pathology, University Hospital of Albacete, Albacete, Spain; ⁶ Department of Pathology, General University Hospital of Alicante, Alicante, Spain

Silent somatotroph pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (or silent growth hormone pituitary neuroendocrine tumors, SGH-PitNET) are neoplasias with positive immunostaining for growth hormone (GH), in patients with no signs and symptoms of acromegaly nor biochemical evidence of GH hypersecretion. From a clinical stand-point they are considered and managed as non-functioning pituitary tumors, since they usually come to evidence due to mass-effects (headache, visual impairment, hypopituitarism) or as asymptomatic pituitary incidentalomas. SGH-PitNET have deserved little attention in the medical literature, and no specific guidelines exist regarding their management. However, identification of a particular tumor lineage through immunostaining patterns of non-functioning pituitary tumors may determine postoperative medical therapy in the near future. This review updates the current knowledge about the epidemiologic, clinical, pathological and molecular characteristics of this particular type of pituitary tumors.

KEY WORDS: Pituitary neoplasms - Growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenoma - Neuroendocrine tumors