NEOPLASMS OF THE SELL TURCICA REGION IN IBADAN, NIGERIA.

Abstract

Thirty-two cases of neoplasms of the pituitary gland encountered in Africans at the University College Hospital in Ibadan include twenty-two adenomas and ten craniopharyngiomas, the latter present almost exclusively in the male in the first decade of life. Disturbances of vision and headaches were prominent. The age peaks for both neoplasms were a decade younger in this African group. About one-third of the adenoma patients showed acromegalic features. Details of the clinical picture and neuroradiology characteristics of each neoplasm at Ibadan have been reviewed. In their cytologic and tissue cultural behaviour by phase microscopy in this series chromophobe adenoma cells survived more rapidly than the eosinophilic tumour cells in tissue culture. The adenomas form 11 -9% and the craniopharyngiomas 5-96% of the 134 various intracranial masses recorded at Ibadan. These ratio frequencies are decidedly higher than the larger Western series have shown.