Even with proven pituitary disease, less than twenty per cent of pituitary fossae are abnormal on routine skull X-ray. A small proportion of patients with abnormal fossae have locally invasive tumours, although these are more frequently seen in Nelson's syndrome. Careful plain chest radiography should be performed on all patients since ΓÇÿsmall-cellΓÇÖ tumours are nearly always apparent using this technique. This, however, is not always the case for bronchial carcinoids or adenomas, which may be less than 1cm in diameter.
