Purpose: Pituitary adenomas reach very big sizes and invade directly. Transsphenoidal surgery is the preferred approach for the surgical management of the majority of pituitary tumors, including macroadenomas. Radiotherapy is very efficient in controlling large tumors' mass effect and hypersecretion. This study evaluates retrospectively those patients who have recourse to our clinic between 1990-1998 with endocrine active pituitary adenoma diagnosis.

Materials and Method: 20 patients applied to our clinic between 1990-1998 with pituitary adenoma diagnosis. 12 patients had endocrin active tumors. Female/male ratio: 6/1. The most frequent age range was 31- 40. Tumor diameters ranged between 2-5 cm 5 patients (42 %) had prolactinoma, 3 patients (25 %) had somatropic adenoma, and 4 patients (33 %) had adenomas with mixed hormone secretion. 8 patients had total and 4 had subtotal excision. All patients had radiotherapy.

Results: Endocrin active pituitary tumors are more frequent in women. The longest follow-up period is for tumors secreting prolactin. The rate of relapse is high in patients who did not receive radiotherapy following surgery. Key words: Endocrine active pituitary adenomas, radiotherapy, surgery