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A gonadotroph tumour is a pituitary tumour of the cells that normally make the fertility hormones, but it almost never secretes enough to cause symptoms, so it is found as a large non-functioning mass pressing on the optic nerves or by chance. Surgery through the nose is the treatment when it threatens vision or grows; there is no drug for it, and radiotherapy is used for regrowth.
The 2022 WHO classification places the gonadotroph tumour in the SF1 lineage, defined by SF1, GATA3 and oestrogen receptor alpha with variable FSH and LH staining, and it accounts for most tumours previously called non-functioning or null cell adenomas (Asa 2022). Gonadotroph adenomas often present as invasive macroadenomas not amenable to complete resection; radiotherapy is the only postoperative option for large invasive or recurrent lesions, no medical treatment is available, and the somatostatin analogues that target SSTR2 have little effect, which prompted the study of SSTR3 expression in 108 patients as a possible target (Endocrine-Related Cancer 2015). Gonadotroph tumours carry a heavier CD68-positive M2 macrophage infiltrate than somatotroph, lactotroph or corticotroph tumours, linked to invasion (JCEM 2020).
How it differs from its parent: it is the pituitary tumour without a hormone syndrome or a drug, managed by observation, surgery for mass effects and radiotherapy for regrowth; its risk is to vision and to the remaining pituitary function.
How common: the commonest non-functioning pituitary tumour; no separate incidence figure in the sources read.
Treatment: observation with MRI and visual fields for incidental tumours away from the optic chiasm; transsphenoidal surgery for visual compromise, growth or pituitary failure; radiotherapy or radiosurgery for residual or recurrent tumour; hormone replacement for hypopituitarism; temozolomide for the rare aggressive tumour, as on the parent page.
The commonest non-functioning pituitary tumour; the SSTR3 study assembled 108 patients from one pathology cohort (Endocrine-Related Cancer 2015). GLOBOCAN does not count pituitary tumours.
Gliomas infiltrate along white matter and can cross the corpus callosum, medulloblastoma sits in the cerebellum, and CNS lymphoma favours deep periventricular tissue; none spread through lymph nodes.
No conventional lymphatics: gliomas spread along white matter tracts and, rarely, through cerebrospinal fluid; medulloblastoma can seed the spine.
Same organ: Lactotroph pituitary neuroendocrine tumour (prolactinoma), Somatotroph pituitary neuroendocrine tumour (acromegaly), Corticotroph pituitary neuroendocrine tumour (Cushing disease and silent corticotroph tumour), Thyrotroph pituitary neuroendocrine tumour (TSH-secreting), Pineocytoma and pineal parenchymal tumour of intermediate differentiation, Pineoblastoma, Papillary tumour of the pineal region, Choroid plexus carcinoma, Glioma & glioblastoma, Primary CNS lymphoma, Medulloblastoma, Paediatric low-grade glioma, Diffuse midline glioma, H3 K27-altered (including DIPG), Atypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumour (ATRT), Ependymoma, Craniopharyngioma, Pituitary tumours (pituitary neuroendocrine tumours) and pituitary carcinoma, Brain and spinal cord tumours (all types), Astrocytoma, IDH-mutant (grades 2 to 4), Oligodendroglioma, IDH-mutant and 1p/19q-codeleted, Paediatric high-grade glioma (excluding diffuse midline glioma), Meningioma, Brain metastases (secondary brain tumours), Vestibular schwannoma (acoustic neuroma), Central nervous system germ cell tumours (germinoma and non-germinomatous), Spinal cord tumours (intramedullary and intradural), WNT-activated medulloblastoma, SHH-activated medulloblastoma, Group 3 and group 4 medulloblastoma (non-WNT/non-SHH)
Observation with MRI and visual fields.
Transsphenoidal surgery; radiotherapy or radiosurgery for residual or recurrent tumour; temozolomide for aggressive tumours.
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Query for this cancer: (TITLE:"Gonadotroph pituitary neuroendocrine tumour" OR ABSTRACT:"Gonadotroph pituitary neuroendocrine tumour" OR TITLE:"non-functioning adenoma" OR ABSTRACT:"non-functioning adenoma" OR TITLE:"Gonadotroph tumour" OR ABSTRACT:"Gonadotroph tumour" OR TITLE:"Gonadotroph tumour most non-functioning adenomas" OR ABSTRACT:"Gonadotroph tumour most non-functioning adenomas" OR TITLE:"Gonadotroph adenoma" OR ABSTRACT:"Gonadotroph adenoma" OR TITLE:"Non-functioning pituitary adenoma most are gonadotroph" OR ABSTRACT:"Non-functioning pituitary adenoma most are gonadotroph") AND (treatment OR therapy OR trial OR survival OR diagnosis). Results are unfiltered search hits about Gonadotroph pituitary neuroendocrine tumour (non-functioning adenoma), not a curated reading list.
No targets or pathways are linked to this cancer yet. Browse the gene hub →
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Bleeding that will not stop, black or bloody stools, or unexplained bruising when platelets are expected to be low.
Take on an empty stomach or at bedtime to reduce nausea; PJP prophylaxis during concurrent chemoradiation.
See all on the product pages:Temozolomide·Printable cards in the navigator
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