Pituicytoma associated with Cushing’s disease: a case report and literature review

Abstract

Pituicytoma is a rare tumor that has been recently recognized and described, where only few reported cases of pituicytoma associated with Cushing’s disease. We describe a case of a 47 years old female with a history of high cortisol levels and a diagnosis of Cushing’s disease was made. Brain magnetic resonance imaging showed lesion in pituitary gland compatible with microadenoma and tumor resection was carried out. The histopathological findings were of a pituicytoma with positive thyroid transcription factor-1 immunostain.

A rare case of pituicytoma-related hypercortisolism in a patient with Cushing syndrome—case report

“…Pituicytomas present as a neoplasm of the sellar and suprasellar regions (World health organization grade 1), which arise from the neurohypophysis or infundibulum of the pituitary and its stalk, as in this case (Marco Del Pont et al 2019;Li et al 2019;Gezer et al 2019;Rumeh et al 2020). It is a rare tumor that can mimic pituitary adenoma and can be associated with Cushing's disease (Li et al 2019;Rumeh et al 2020).…”

“…This is supported by the absence of evidence of adenoma in pathology. Only few other such cases have been reported in the literature (Schmalisch et al 2010;Guo et al 2016;Marco Del Pont et al 2019;Li et al 2019;Feng et al 2018;Gezer et al 2019;Rumeh et al 2020;Barresi et al 2017;Cambiaso et al 2015;Chakraborti et al 2013;Yang et al 2016;Cheng et al 2021a). In other cases reported in the literature, all adult patients achieved remission of their Cushing disease with surgical dissection of the tumor, as was done for this case.…”

A rare case of pituicytoma-related hyperprolactinemia due to mass effect on infundibular stalk—Case report

“…Few studies have reported other hormonal disturbances in patients diagnosed with pituicytoma such as Cushing syndrome as found through a detailed PubMed literature search. These hormonal defects are mainly due to a mass effect [ 4 , 5 , [15] , [16] , [17] , [18] , [19] ].…”

Pituicytoma Associated with Suspected Cushing’s Disease: Two Case Reports and a Literature Review

“…Some endocrine alterations, such as anterior pituitary hormone deficit, mild hyperprolactinemia, and diabetes insipidus, can be explained by the mass effect or stalk effect of posterior pituitary tumors (PPTs) [ 2 , 3 ]. However, remarkable pituitary hyperfunction disorders, mostly Cushing’s disease (CD), have also been reported in 17 patients [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ], most of whom had a suspected diagnosis of pituitary adenoma before surgery. In patients presenting with biochemical CD, concurrent adrenocorticotropin (ACTH)-secreting adenoma or hyperplasia was occasionally evidenced in histopathological examinations [ 4 , 7 , 9 , 14 , 15 ], but mostly, only pituicytoma was identified.…”