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Immunohistochemical heterogeneity within clinically nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas

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Abstract

To investigate whether adenohypophysial hormone expression is heterogeneous within individual clinically nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas, immunohistochemical examinations were performed on tissues obtained by multiple sampling of 11 adenomas. Stained sections were assessed by morphometric image analysis as well as semiquantitative estimation under microscopy. All tumors except one were immunopositive for one or more gonadotropins. Results were divided into five grades based on the proportion of immunoreactive cells per section. Semiquantitative estimation showed only a one-grade difference among samples from the same tumor in four cases for FSHβ and in two cases for LHβ. These qualitative similarities between multiple samples were confirmed by morphometric image analysis.

From the practical standpoint of making a diagnosis of nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma, it is not necessary to take into account immunohistochemical heterogeneity within an individual tumor, and immunohistochemical findings in a given sample obtained at surgery can be regarded as representative of the entire adenoma.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Endocrinology, Toranomon Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

    Shozo Yamada MD, Michie Takahashi PhD, Yoshimasa Shishiba MD & Akira Teramoto MD

  2. Department of Pathology, University of Tokushima School of Medicine, Tokushima, Japan

    Toshiaki Sano MD

  3. Department of Neurosurgery, Toranomon Hospital, 2-2-2 Toranomon, Minato-ku, 105, Tokyo, Japan

    Shozo Yamada MD, Michie Takahashi PhD, Yoshimasa Shishiba MD & Akira Teramoto MD

Authors
  1. Shozo Yamada MD
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  2. Toshiaki Sano MD
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  3. Michie Takahashi PhD
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  4. Yoshimasa Shishiba MD
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  5. Akira Teramoto MD
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Yamada, S., Sano, T., Takahashi, M. et al. Immunohistochemical heterogeneity within clinically nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas. Endocr Pathol 6, 217–221 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02739885

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