Prognostic Factors Obtained from Long-Term Follow-up of Pituitary Adenomas and Other Sellar Tumors

AIM: Pituitary adenomas do not have a single factor of aggressive behavior or recurrence. The objective of this study was to determine factors influencing the, prognosis in pituitary adenomas. MATERIAL and METHODS: 243 patients who were operated between January 2000 and June 2012 were included in this retrospective study. Demographic data, age at diagnosis, date of diagnosis, date of operation, type of operation, post-operative medications, pre- and postoperative hormone levels, and MRI findings were evaluated in each patient. RESULTS: The rate of total resection of sellar tumors was less than 50% in our patient population. The prognosis was better in cases with total resection. Tumor size was a poor prognostic factor in sellar tumors. Female sex was a poor prognostic factor in acromegaly and male sex in prolactinoma. The prognosis was worse in patients with cavernous sinus invasion. In acromegaly, pre-operative level of 850 ng/ml for IGF-1 was noted as a possible prognostic cut-off value. CONCLUSION: Long-term follow-up results of our study suggest that factors common to all sellar tumors including tumor type, tumor size, total resection, and cavernous sinus invasion and tumor type-specific factors including sex and hormone levels play important roles in the prognosis.