Haemorrhage in pituitary tumours.

Evidence of haemorrhage was found in 58 of 320 verified pituitary adenomas (18.1%). Haemorrhage occurred as acute or subacute apoplexy and recent or old silent haemorrhages. The differentiation was based on the predominant clinical features, the operative findings and the length of the history. There was a relatively high incidence of giant or large recurrent adenomas, invasiveness, malignant change, increased vascularity and sinusoidal characteristics on histology among the haemorrhagic tumours. The majority (53.4%) were hypopituitary but 39.6% had no obvious endocrine defect. CT scan has helped in the early preoperative diagnosis of haemorrhage in pituitary adenoma. Transcranial surgery appeared a most effective mode of treatment in the current series.