Published on line in August 1999
PATIENT HISTORY:
This 49 year old woman presented with visual disturbances and a sellar mass measuring 3.1x2.7 cm. She had no endocrine symptoms indicating hormonal hypersecretion or hypopituitarism. Preoperative blood levels of pituitary, thyroid and adrenocortical hormones were within the normal range.
The tumor, believed to be a pituitary adenoma, was removed by transsphenoidal surgery. Six months after the procedure she complained of sudden blindness and MRI documented a large invasive lesion in the sella turcica (Fig. 1). The patient underwent partial tumor resection by the transsphenoidal approach 9 months after the first operation (Fig.1, right). She developed obstructive hydrocephalus and hypopituitarism which required hormone replacement therapy. She died one month after surgery of pulmonary thromboembolism.