Clinical and endocrine aspects of pituitary tumors

To study the clinical spectrum and endocrine profile of pituitary tumors presenting to a tertiary care endocrine center. Retrospective analysis of clinical and hormonal data of patients with pituitary tumors admitted in the Endocrinology Department of Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Srinagar, Kashmir India between January 1989 and December 1998. Over a period of one decade, 75 subjects were diagnosed to have pituitary tumors. Somatotroph adenoma was the most common pituitary mass lesion seen [44/75] and followed in the decreasing order of frequency, by non-functioning pituitary tumor [12/75], prolactinoma [11/75] and corticotroph adenoma [8/75]. Overall there was a male preponderance [male to female ratio was 41:34]. Subjects with somatotroph adenoma presented with classical features of acromegaly: mean fasting and post glucose suppression growth hormone levels were 34.04 +/- 11.67 and 36.47 +/- 6.64 ng/ml. Eleven subjects [9 females and 2 males] had prolactinoma; females presented with the classical symptom complex of amenorrhea-galactorrhea while males presented with headache, visual disturbances and impotence. The 12 subjects with nonfunctioning pituitary tumors presented with features of mass lesion. Of the 8 subjects [6 females and 2 males] with corticotroph adenomas, 2 were confirmed to have periodic hormonogenesis. In an endocrine center, functioning pituitary tumors are more often seen than non-functioning tumors

Paget's disease of the bone

Paget's disease of bone is rare in Asia. Association of calcific aortic valve disease with Paget's disease of bone is well documented. We report a patient from north India who also had calcific aortic valve disease