Pathology of endocrine polyneoplasms (polyadenomatoses) (author's transl)

The term "endocrine polyadenomatoses" includes two types of pathological entities in which there are an association of at least two endocrine tumors having no physiological relationships, and hereditary familial characteristics: Wermer's syndrome (Type I): pancreatic endocrine tumor, pituitary adenoma, and hyperplasia or adenoma of the parathyroids. Sipple' syndrome (Type II): medullary thyroid cancer, one of two pheochromocytomas, and parathyroid hyperplasia. The multifocal character of the pancreatic D-cell lesions in the first type, and the bilateral nature of the thyroid and adrenal lesions in the second type are particular features of each of them. Apart from some parathyroid lesions, for which the origin is still debatable, these endocrine tumors enter into the framework of the apudomes and are derived therefore from the neural crest. The association of other tumoral varieties of the APUD (carcinoid) type with nervous tissue tumors, and with dysmorphic anomalies suggests that these syndromes are the expression of a dysgenesis affecting more or less completely, structures derived from the neural crest.