Clinicopathologic features of familial pituitary adenomas

Pituitary adenomas are common neoplasms. Initially considered as sporadic tumours, some of them are associated with familial syndromes such as familial isolated pituitary adenoma, multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 and type 4, X-linked acrogigantism syndrome, Carney complex, pheochromocytoma/paraganglioma–pituitary adenoma, pituitary blastoma and McCune–Albright syndrome. They represent a group of diseases with different genetic background and variable phenotype. Here, we summarize the clinicopathological features of pituitary adenomas associated with these familial syndromes.