Incidentaloma, a Plea for Clarification

The nature of “pituitary incidentalomas” is almost always either a non-secreting pituitary adenoma or a Rathke cleft cyst (RCC). The imaging features of both lesions are easily distinguishable with MRI. Yet, the term pituitary incidentaloma is flourishing and appears more and more often in the endocrinological literature when the management of adenomas and RCCs is obviously different. Then, the term “incidentalomas”—which has been described as a “by-product of modern imaging”—may cause confusion and, from a practical point of view, is not justified.