This gross photo of the brain
with the adenoma was initially published in Laboratory Medicine
, volume 29, number 10, page 612. It had been submitted as one of the
photographs in the 1998 Art and Science of Medicine Photography
contest. It was taken and submitted by Dr. James M. Gulizia of
Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston.
This picture is of a "benign"
pituitary adenoma. Although biologically benign, it is sure in the wrong
place and can be lethal just because of its location. You will see clusters
and cords of the tumor cells, and it may be tricky to distinguish the tumor
from the surrounding normal pituitary. Does the term "tumor" apply here? You
should see no mitoses.
