Turkish Neurosurgery
2018 , Vol 28 , Num 5
Course of Aggressive Somatotroph, Corticotroph and Mammotroph Tumors under Temozolomide: Report of Three Cases and Review of the Literature
1Ankara University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Ankara, Turkey
DOI :
10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.20216-17.1
Treatment of aggressive pituitary tumors may be challenging. Temozolomide (TMZ) is a promising agent when conventional treatment
methods fail. We present three patients with aggressive pituitary tumors with atypical morphology, who were resistant to conventional
treatments and treated with TMZ. The first case had a somatotroph adenoma, the second a corticotroph adenoma, and the third a
macroprolactinoma. We also reviewed the literature reporting TMZ efficacy in somatotroph, corticotroph and mammotroph tumors
of the pituitary gland. TMZ with a schedule of 150?200 mg/m2 for 5 days every 28 days was administered to all patients. Even
though only the case of macroprolactinoma had a favorable response to TMZ treatment among our patients, both radiological
and hormonal recurrence occurred 30 months after the cessation of TMZ treatment. TMZ treatment was then administered again.
Cases of somatotroph and corticotroph adenomas had progressed under TMZ treatment and the patients were lost due to mass
effect of the tumor. A review of the literature demonstrated 67.3%, 60% and 26.7% overall response rates to TMZ treatment in
prolactinoma, corticotropinoma and somatostatinoma cases, respectively. There is still a need to define response criteria uniformly
to TMZ treatment in aggressive pituitary tumors. The duration of response should be reported for reliable evaluation of results.
Keywords :
Aggressive pituitary adenoma, Cushing"s disease, Macroprolactinoma, Somatotroph adenoma, Temozolomide