Frequency of Functional and Non-Functional Pituitary Adenomas in Patients Presented at Ayub Teaching Hospital, Abbottabad

Objective:  Pituitary lesions cause morbidity and mortality in all age groups due to their hormonal hypersecretion, its mass effects, and post-surgery complications. The present study determined the frequency of functional and non-functional pituitary adenomas. Materials & Methods:  The study included patients (n = 114) presenting with functional and non-functional pituitary adenoma. Pituitary adenomas were diagnosed based on MRI brain with contrast and the size of the tumor was noted a tumor having a size of 10 mm or more was labeled as macro adenoma and a tumor having a size less than 10 mm was labeled as microadenoma. Pituitary adenomas were stratified among age, gender, duration of symptoms, types of adenomas, types of functional adenoma, and type of the tumor on a size basis. Results:  Most of the patients had TSH- secreting adenoma (21.9%). 52.6% were found with microadenoma and 47.4% had macro adenoma. Patients with functional adenoma were 30.7% and with non-functional adenoma 32.5% were male while patients with functional adenoma were 26.3% and with non-functional adenoma 10.5%were female (p = 0.018). Patients with functional adenoma (43.9%) and non-functional adenoma (8.8%) were found to have microadenoma, whereas patients with functional adenoma (13.2%) and non-functional adenoma (34.2%) were found to have macroadenoma (p = 0.000). Patients with functional adenoma having a duration of symptoms below 1 year were 11 (9.6%), 1 to 3 years were 25 (21.9%), 17 (14.9%) were 4 to 6 years, and 12 (10.5%) above 6 years duration of symptoms. Conclusion:  Patients with pituitary adenomas should be diagnosed early to receive successful therapy