[The otoneurological symptoms in giant adenomas of the hypophysis].

Analysis of the otoneurological symptomatology in 32 patients with hypophyseal tumors showed that they extended most frequently into the sphenoidal sinus, the cells of the ethmoidal sinus, the superoposterior parts of the nose, and the nasopharynx. The focal symptoms of compression of the adjoining parts of the brain (frontal, temporal) were manifested in 11 among 32 cases by olfactory disorders (loss of olfaction in 4 patients, diminished olfaction in 2, olfactory hallucinations in 4 patients, and impaired recognition of odors in 1 patient). Asymmetric action of the tumor on the subcortical structures in the fronto-parietal-temporal parts was manifested by side asymmetry of the experimental nystagmus, complete spatial disorientation of the patient after the rotation test with a false sensation of collapse to the side of the slow phase of nystagmus with vigorous motor compensatory disharmonic deviation of the trunk and limbs in the direction of the rapid nystagmus phase. The effect of the giant hypophyseal tumor on the brain stem was often manifested for a large distance (simultaneously on the diencephalic level, on the level of the midbrain, and in the posterior cranial fossa). Among a group of 32 patients 18 had the decompensated phase of affection of the vestibular apparatus. The effect of the tumor on the diencephalic parts of the brain was attended by sharply intensified vestibulovegetative reactions which should be considered as a stimulation symptom. In giant cell hypophyseal tumors, however, intensification of vestibulovegetative reactions after experimental vestibular tests does not occur in many cases, which is due to death and areactivity of the diencephalo-hypothalamic structures.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)