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Bronchial carcinoid tumors metastatic to the sella turcica and review of the literature

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Abstract

We review here the literature on neuroendocrine neoplasms metastatic to the pituitary and present an example of the disease. Metastasis of bronchial carcinoid tumors to the sellar region are rare. Herein, we describe the case of a 63-year-old woman who presented with constant cough and headaches. She had previously been operated for carcinoid tumor of the lung. During the preoperative investigation, a CT scan of the head revealed a sellar mass. Six months after a left lower lobectomy, the sellar lesion was removed by transsphenoidal surgery. The two tumors were evaluated by histology, immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. Both showed identical morphologic features, those of carcinoid tumor. Immunohistochemistry revealed immunoreactivity for the endocrine markers, synaptophysin and chromogranin, as well as CD-56, serotonin, bombesin and vascular endothelial growth factor. The sellar neoplasm showed nuclear immunopositivity for thyroid transcription factor-1, supporting the diagnosis of a metastatic bronchial carcinoid tumor. In conclusion, this is the first report of a serotonin- and bombesin-immunopositive atypical bronchial carcinoid tumor metastatic to the sella.

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Acknowledgments

Authors thank the Jarislowsky and the Lloyd Carr-Harris Foundations as well as Mr. Jesus Rodriguez for their generous support. This research was funded in part by OTKA Grant No. 68660—Hungarian Research Fund.

Conflict of interest

The authors wish to disclose that there are no relationships/conditions/circumstances that present potential conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Laboratory Medicine, Peterborough Regional Health Centre, 1 Hospital Drive, Peterborough, ON, K9J 7C6, Canada

    Olga Moshkin

  2. Division of Pathology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Olga Moshkin, Fabio Rotondo, Eva Horvath & Kalman Kovacs

  3. Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA

    Bernd W. Scheithauer

  4. Division of Pathology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Trillium Health Centre, Mississauga, ON, Canada

    Mark Soares & Claire Coire

  5. Department of Neurosurgery, Trillium Health Centre, Mississauga, ON, Canada

    Harley S. Smyth

  6. Department of Medicine, Hungarian Defense Forces, Military Hospital, Budapest, Hungary

    Miklos Goth

Authors
  1. Olga Moshkin
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  2. Fabio Rotondo
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  3. Bernd W. Scheithauer
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  4. Mark Soares
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  5. Claire Coire
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  6. Harley S. Smyth
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  7. Miklos Goth
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  8. Eva Horvath
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  9. Kalman Kovacs
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Olga Moshkin.

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Moshkin, O., Rotondo, F., Scheithauer, B.W. et al. Bronchial carcinoid tumors metastatic to the sella turcica and review of the literature. Pituitary 15, 160–165 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11102-012-0388-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11102-012-0388-6

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