The pathology of pituitary, parathyroids, thyroid and adrenal glands

The pathology of these endocrine organs is generally related to over or underproduction of hormones with resultant biochemical and clinical manifestations or a consequence of mass lesions. Hyperplastic processes and both benign and malignant neoplasms may be associated with hyperfunction. Hypofunction is usually a destructive process. An integrated multidisciplinary approach with morphological findings, biochemical measurements of hormone levels and their regulators is required to diagnose and treat endocrine diseases. Most hyperplasia/neoplasia are sporadic but a significant subset occurs in multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) syndromes, a group of inherited disorders of multiple endocrine organs.