ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Pituitary Endocrinology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1615720
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances and challenges in adult-onset craniopharyngiomaView all 5 articles
Characteristics and influencing factors of neuroendocrine dysfunction in patients with adult-onset craniopharyngioma
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Endocrinology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
- 2Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
- 3Beijing Neurosurgical Institute, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
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The aim of the study was to compare neuroendocrine dysfunction patterns in adult-onset adamantinomatous craniopharyngiomas (ACPs) and papillary craniopharyngiomas (PCPs) before and after surgery, and identify factors that influence neuroendocrine outcomes in these two histopathological types.Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 390 patients with adult-onset craniopharyngioma (CP) patients, including 272 patients with ACP and 118 patients with PCP.The pre-and post-operative neuroendocrine parameters were compared, and the factors that contributed to poor endocrine outcomes were identified.Results: Suprasellar tumor extension (83.1% vs. 70.6%, p=0.01), mass effects (81.4% vs.68.4%, p<0.01), and pre-operative central diabetes insipidus (CDI; 35.6% vs. 21.0%, p=0.02) rates were higher in the PCP group, when compared to the ACP group. However, both PCP and ACP patients presented with a post-operative increase in growth hormone deficiency (GHD), CDI, and hypothalamic-pituitary-target dysfunction (p<0.05 vs. pre-operative baselines). Furthermore, the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis dysfunction (75.4%vs. 65.3%, p=0.04) and GHD (50.0% vs. 34.7%, p<0.01) rates were higher in the ACP group, when compared to the PCP group. Surgical intervention had a greater detrimental effect on overall pituitary function in ACP patients, when compared to PCP patients. The ACP pathological type, larger tumors, and milder pre-operative endocrine dysfunction were associated with a significantly higher risk of postoperative pituitary hormone deficiencies (p<0.05).with ACP and PCP, although different factors influence the adverse endocrine outcomes for these two pathological types.
Keywords: Adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma, papillary craniopharyngioma, adenohypophyseal dysfunction, Diabetes Insipidus, Clinical prognosis
Received: 21 Apr 2025; Accepted: 29 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Guo, Gui, Liu, Zhang, Xu and Zhong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jian Xu, Department of Endocrinology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100070, China
Liyong Zhong, Department of Endocrinology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100070, China
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