Purpose: We present an up-to-date review of all published cases of sellar melanocytoma, a benign melanocytic neoplasm arising from melanocytes present in the leptomeninges surrounding the pituitary.
Methods: Both the Medline and Embase databases were searched for case reports or case series of patients with a sellar mass consisting of melanocytes.
Results: All 14 identified patients developed symptoms due to compression of the surrounding structures. Symptoms included pituitary dysfunction and visual impairment. All patients received a transsphenoidal resection as first-line treatment. The diagnosis is made on pathological examination but deciding whether a sellar melanocytic tumor is best classified as a melanocytoma or a melanoma is not straightforward.
Discussion: Genetic analyses can help differentiate between central nervous system origin and metastasis of a cutaneous melanoma with the presence of a GNAQ and GNA11 mutations or a BRAF mutation, respectively. First choice treatment is complete resection, and in case of incomplete resection or recurrence additional radiotherapy is advised.
Keywords: Leptomeninges; Pituitary tumor; Sellar melanocytoma; Transsphenoidal surgery.
© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.