[Pathological analysis of 1458 cases of tumor in the sella turcica region].

The sella turcica region is an anatomical site preferential for various types of intracranial tumors. Pathological analysis of 1458 cases of tumor in this region is presented. They comprised 20.16% of the intracranial tumors. Among them, 846(59.1%) were pituitary adenomas, 433(29.7%) craniopharyngiomas, 91(6.2%) meningiomas and 42(2.9%) germinomas. In pituitary adenomas, chromophobe adenoma was predominant, mixed cell adenoma next and no basophilic adenoma was observed. Of craniopharyngiomas they were divided into cystic, partly solid and cystic, and calcified types grossly and histologically into adamantinomatous, squamous and calcified types. In this kind of tumor, well differentiated cells were consistent to the clinical benign course. For meningiomas, histologically meningotheliomatous type was most common in this region. In previous reports, germinomas in the sella turcica region were so-called ectopic pinealoma. Now it is well known that this tumor arises from germ cells, hence, the synonym "ectopic pinealoma" is obsolete. The germinomas in the sella turcica region accounted for 44.68% of all intracranial germinomas. Microscopic picture of this tumor was similar to those of seminoma of the testicle and dysgerminoma of the ovary. Although gliomas, teratomas, giant cell tumors and chondromas were uncommon in the sella turcica region, the authors believe that they should be considered in the differential diagnosis of tumors in the sella turcica region.