The pathology of pituitary,parathyroids, thyroid and adrenal glands

The pathology of these endocrine organs is generally related to over or underproduction of hormones with resultant biochemical and clinical manifestations or a consequence of mass lesions. Hyperplastic processes and both benign and malignant neoplasms may be associated with hyperfunction. Hypofunction is usually a destructive process. An integrated multidisciplinary approach with morphological findings, biochemical measurements of hormone levels and their regulators is required to diagnose and treat endocrine diseases. Most hyperplasia/neoplasia are sporadic but a significant subset occurs in multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN) syndromes, a group of inherited disorders of multiple endocrine organs.