Conventional Radiation Therapy for Huge Surgically Incurable Pituitary Adenomas: Results of a Long-term Retrospective Study

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Conventional Radiation Therapy for Huge Surgically Incurable Pituitary Adenomas: Results of a Long-term Retrospective Study

Journal Title: Nepal Journal of Neuroscience - Year 2005, Vol 2, Issue 2

Abstract

In patients with huge pituitary adenomas that cannot be controlled by surgery alone, radiotherapy remains the basic treatment option. In the absence of studies that investigated the time required for the manifestation of a response to radiotherapy, we undertook a retrospective study. We used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate the size-reduction process chronologically in huge pituitary adenomas, defined as adenomas whose maximum diameter exceeded 30 mm in any direction. We followed seven patients for an average of 122 months; they had received a multi-fractionated radiation dose of 5,000 cGy after two or more surgical debulking procedures. Of the seven pituitary adenomas, five exhibited shrinkage in the course of six to 42 months, indicating that more time than expected is required for these tumors to shrink in response to conventional radiotherapy. Our results suggest that patients with pituitary adenomas must be followed for prolonged periods to obtain a correct evaluation of the efficacy of radiotherapy

Authors and Affiliations

Kuniki Eguchi, MD

Keywords

EP ID EP382064
DOI -
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