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Management of pituicytomas: a multicenter series of eight cases

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Abstract

Purpose

Pituicytomas and spindle cell oncocytomas (SCOs) are two rare neoplasms of the sellar and suprasellar region, known to be challenging as they are extremely vascular and almost always misdiagnosed, altering our surgical planning and the patients’ outcomes. Also we argue that recent update concerning the pathology findings of these tumors should be more widely generalized to our practice.

Methods

This is a retrospective multicenter study, reporting the clinical manifestations, radiological characteristics, histopathological features, treatment strategies and long-term outcomes of patients who have been treated for a Pituicytoma at various institutions in Paris, France over the past 10 years. In addition, we compared our results to the world literature in order to identify similarities concerning the radiographic diagnosis and the treatment strategies of these tumors.

Results

Eight patients were operated on in four different hospitals. Misdiagnosis was constant before surgery, pituitary adenoma or craniopharyngioma being suspected. During surgery (transsphenoidal approach: six cases, transcranial approach: two cases) unusual tumors were noted, with important bleeding in most cases. Complete resection could be obtained in five patients. Pathological diagnosis was confirmed in all cases. During the follow up two recurrences occurred. One was subsequently treated with radiotherapy, the other underwent a second surgery.

Conclusion

Recent updates concerning the histological diagnosis of pituicytomas should be generalized to our practice in order to provide a better understanding of this rare pathology and its natural course.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr Marc POLIVKA (Neuropathology Department, Lariboisière Hospital, Paris, France) and Dr Hervé Boissonnet (Neurosurgery Department, Fondation Ophtalmologique Adolphe de Rothschild, Paris, France) for their help in the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery, Bâtiment Babinski, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, APHP, 47-83 Boulevard de l’Hôpital, 75013, Paris, France

    Etienne Lefevre & Anne-Laure Boch

  2. Department of Neurosurgery, Hôpital Lariboisière, APHP, 2 rue Ambroise Paré, 75010, Paris, France

    Schahrazed Bouazza

  3. Department of Neuropathology, Groupe Hospitalier Pitié-Salpêtrière, APHP, 47-83 Boulevard de l’Hôpital, 75013, Paris, France

    Franck Bielle

Authors
  1. Etienne Lefevre
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Correspondence to Etienne Lefevre.

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The authors report no conflict of interest concerning the materials or methods used in this study or the findings specified in this paper.

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Lefevre, E., Bouazza, S., Bielle, F. et al. Management of pituicytomas: a multicenter series of eight cases. Pituitary 21, 507–514 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11102-018-0905-3

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