J Korean Neurosurg Soc.  1996 Sep;25(9):1896-1900.

The Granuloma of Pituitary Gland

• Kuh SU
• Kim SH
• Kim TS

Abstract

Granulomatous lesions of the pituitary gland are very unusual. We had only one case of pituitary granuloma among 469 pituitary gland lesion which were operated between 1980 and 1995 in our institute. In previous reports, some cases were asymptomatic and only detected incidently during post-mortem examination. The others presented the symptom of pituitary deficiency, visual field defects, and acute unilateral ophthalmoplegia. The most granulomatous inflammation of the pituitary gland may involve the intrasellar portion, but occasionally involve the hypothalamic area and combined with other systemic diseases, such as tuberculosis, syphilis, or sarcoidosis. Histologically, the lesion was characterized by nodular aggregates of epithelioid histiocytes, multinucleated giant cells, and sheets of lymphocytes and plasma cells. In this case, the patient had positive results on VDRL. FTA-ABS, and presented the diabetes insipidus as the main symptom, speculated that this case was pituitary granuloma associated with syphilis.

Keyword

Pituitary granuloma; Syphilis; Sarcoidosis; Tuberculosis

MeSH Terms

Autopsy
Diabetes Insipidus
Giant Cells
Granuloma*
Histiocytes
Humans
Inflammation
Lymphocytes
Ophthalmoplegia
Pituitary Gland*
Plasma Cells
Sarcoidosis
Syphilis
Tuberculosis
Visual Fields