August 2001: Sellar/suprasellar mass in a 59-year-old woman - Diagnosis - Atypical granular cell tumor of the neurohypophysis.

The August 2001 COM. Symptomatic granular cell tumors (GCTs) of the neurohy pophysis are rare lesions. They are generally regarded as benign neoplasms, although detailed descriptions of the natural course of the tumors are lim ited to a few cases. We report on a 59-year-old woman with a large GCT of t he neurohypophysis and rapid onset of symptoms. Although lacking definitive signs of malignancy, the tumor showed nuclear polymorphism, proliferative activity, evidence of a mutation of the tumor suppressor gene p53 as well a s expression of the apoptosis-inhibiting protein bcl-2. These indices may b e useful in defining more precisely the clinicopathological prognosis for n eurohypophyseal GCTs.