Clinical and laboratorial characterization and post-surgical follow-up of 87 patients with non-functioning pituitary macroadenomas.

OBJECTIVE: It was to assess the main characteristics of patients undergoing pituitary tumor surgery.

METHOD: Eighty-seven patients (44 men; 44.8±13 years old) were included.

RESULTS: The main symptoms were visual alterations (87.3%), headache (70.1%), diminished libido (34.4%), galactorrhea (22.9%) and hair loss (19.5%). The axes affected were gonadotropic (72.6%), thyrotropic (48.4%) and corticotropic (38.7%), without significant changes after surgery. The average largest tumor diameter was 3.1 cm before surgery and 1.56 cm after surgery. The most frequent postoperative complications were hydro-electrolyte and acid-base disorders (12%), diabetes insipidus (9%), visual field alterations (9%), liquoric fistula (8%) and nasal obstruction (7%). The patients were affected by more than one complication.

CONCLUSION: Although a decrease in tumor volume was achieved through surgery, hormonal deficiencies persisted in most of the patients and new surgical approaches were necessary for dealing with tumor recurrence or persistence.