Symptomatic pituitary metastases are uncommon and may be difficult to differentiate from pituitary adenomas. In order to ascertain the incidence of pituitary tumors in cancer patients and to characterize the clinical presentation of pituitary metastases, we reviewed the clinical experience with these tumors at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) during the period 1976-1979 and a recent series of 500 consecutive autopsies in which the pituitary fossa and gland were examined. In the clinical series, a histologic diagnosis was made in three of five patients. Radiologic evaluation, including polytomography and computed tomography, did not reliably distinguish metastasis from adenoma, but the clinical syndromes were distinctive. In the autopsy series, pituitary metastases were found in 3.6% of cases, pituitary adenomas in 1.8%.

We studied 43 patients with metastases to the base of the skull to determine whether clinical symptoms localized the lesions accurately. We identified five clinical syndromes: orbital, parasellar, middle fossa, jugular foramen, and occipital condyle. The orbital and parasellar syndromes were characterized by frontal headache, diplopia, and first-division trigeminal sensory loss. Proptosis occurred with the orbital but not the parasellar syndrome. The middle-fossa syndrome was characterized by facial pain or numbness. The jugular foramen syndrome was characterized by hoarseness and dysphagia, with paralysis of the ninth through eleventh cranial nerves. The occipital condyle syndrome was characterized by unilateral occipital pain and unilateral tongue paralysis.

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