Clinical Review: Pituitary Carcinoma: Difficult Diagnosis and Treatment

Overview

Journal J Clin Endocrinol Metab

Publisher Oxford University Press

Specialty Endocrinology

Date 2011 Sep 30

PMID 21956419

Citations 67

Authors

Anthony P Heaney

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Context: Although pituitary tumors are common, pituitary carcinoma is very rare and is only diagnosed when pituitary tumor noncontiguous with the sellar region is demonstrated. Diagnosis is difficult, resulting in delays that may adversely effect outcome that is traditionally poor. Barriers to earlier diagnosis and management strategies for pituitary carcinoma are discussed.

Evidence Acquisition: PubMed was employed to identify relevant studies, a review of the literature was conducted, and data were summarized and integrated from the author's perspective.

Evidence Synthesis: The available data highlight the difficulties in diagnosis and management and practical challenges in conducting clinical trials in this rare condition. They suggest that earlier diagnosis with aggressive multimodal therapy may be advantageous in some cases.

Conclusions: Although pituitary carcinoma remains difficult to diagnose and treat, recent developments have led to improved outcomes in selected cases. With broader use of molecular markers, efforts to modify current histopathological criteria for pituitary carcinoma diagnosis may now be possible. This would assist earlier diagnosis and, in combination with targeted therapies, potentially improve long-term survival.

Citing Articles

Spontaneous regression of paediatric pituitary lesions-report of 2 cases and literature review.

Esguerra J, Chan D, Tang P, Lek N, Low S Childs Nerv Syst. 2024; 41(1):6.

PMID: 39601895 DOI: 10.1007/s00381-024-06680-6.

Clinical features of pituitary carcinoma: analysis based on a case report and literature review.

Yang Y, Liang W, Fan K, Yang T, Cheng J Front Endocrinol (Lausanne). 2024; 15:1440247.

PMID: 39544231 PMC: 11560426. DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2024.1440247.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone Producing Pituitary Carcinoma in the Falx Cerebri, Retroclival Region, Ethmoidal Cells, and Other Locations.

Esquivel J, Santos A, Hong A, Cob Guillen A Cureus. 2024; 16(7):e63735.

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Aggressive and Metastatic Pituitary Neuroendocrine Tumors: Therapeutic Management and Off-Label Drug Use.

Iglesias P J Clin Med. 2024; 13(1).

PMID: 38202123 PMC: 10779494. DOI: 10.3390/jcm13010116.

Case report: Identification of potential prognosis-related LAG3 overexpression and DICER1 mutation in pituitary carcinoma: two cases.

Zhang Y, Li V, Liu J, Zhu H, Lu L, Pan H Front Neurosci. 2023; 17:1191596.

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