Immunostaining Results of Growth Hormone Secreting Adenomas and Their Correlation with Laboratory Findings

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Depending on improvements in immunohistochemical and ultrastructural analyses, hormonal immunoreactivity are more commonly detected in pituitary adenomas. In this study, we investigated the correlation between immunohistochemical results and clinical and laboratory findings.
Material and Method: The records of 110 patients with acromegaly who were operated at our hospital were retrospectively evaluated. Of the patients, 43 were excluded because of missing data. All patients were clinically evaluated preoperatively and had pituitary hormone profile.
Results: Our study population was consisted of 42 females and 25 males. While there were 30 patients with growth hormone staining alone, plurihormonal staining was determined at the remaining 37 patients. Three of 14 patients were diagnosed with thyrotropin-secreting pituitary adenoma according to clinical and findings laboratory, preoperatively. Except these cases, there were no hormone-secreting adenomas even if positive cellular immunreactivity existed.
Discussion: Our data suggest that immunohistochemical results may not be correlated with the signs of hormone hypersecretion as evident by symptoms or laboratory results in patients with acromegaly.