Gamma Knife radiosurgery for growth hormone-secreting pituitary adenomaKeywords: pituitary adenoma, outcome, acromegaly, gamma knife, radiosurgeryInteractive Manuscript
Ask Questions of this Manuscript:
What is the background behind your study?
Single-session radiosurgery with Gamma Knife (GK) may be a potential adjuvant treatment in acromegaly.
What is the purpose of your study?
We analyzed the safety and efficacy of GK in patients with acromegaly who had previously received maximal surgical debulking at our hospital.
Describe your patient group.
One hundred and three acromegalic patients, 62 women and 41 men, participated in the study. The mean age at treatment was 42,3 years (range 22-67 yrs).
Describe what you did.
The study was a retrospective analysis of hormonal, radiological, and ophthalmologic data collected in a predefined protocol from 1994 to 2009. The median follow-up was 71 months (interquartile range 43–107 months). All patients were treated with GK for residual or recurrent GH-secreting adenoma.
Describe your main findings.
Sixty-three patients (61.2%) reached the main outcome of the study. The rate of remission was 58.3% at 5 years (95% CI 47.6– 69.0%). Other 15 patients (14.6%) were in remission after GK while on treatment with somatostatin analogues. No serious side effects occurred after GK. Eight of 102 patients (7.8%) experienced a new deficit of pituitary function. New cases of hypogonadism, hypothyroidism, and hypoadrenalism occurred in 4 of 77 patients (5.2%), 3 of 95 patients (3.2%), and 6 of 100 patients at risk (6.0%), respectively.
Describe the main limitation of this study.
This was a retrospective study.
Describe your main conclusion.
In a highly selected group of acromegalic patients, GK treatment had good efficacy and safety.
Describe the importance of your findings and how they can be used by others.
This may lead to reconsider the role of GK in the therapeutic algorithm of acromegaly.
Single-session radiosurgery with Gamma Knife (GK) may be a potential adjuvant treatment in acromegaly.
We analyzed the safety and efficacy of GK in patients with acromegaly who had previously received maximal surgical debulking at our hospital.
One hundred and three acromegalic patients, 62 women and 41 men, participated in the study. The mean age at treatment was 42,3 years (range 22-67 yrs).
The study was a retrospective analysis of hormonal, radiological, and ophthalmologic data collected in a predefined protocol from 1994 to 2009. The median follow-up was 71 months (interquartile range 43–107 months). All patients were treated with GK for residual or recurrent GH-secreting adenoma.
Sixty-three patients (61.2%) reached the main outcome of the study. The rate of remission was 58.3% at 5 years (95% CI 47.6– 69.0%). Other 15 patients (14.6%) were in remission after GK while on treatment with somatostatin analogues. No serious side effects occurred after GK. Eight of 102 patients (7.8%) experienced a new deficit of pituitary function. New cases of hypogonadism, hypothyroidism, and hypoadrenalism occurred in 4 of 77 patients (5.2%), 3 of 95 patients (3.2%), and 6 of 100 patients at risk (6.0%), respectively.
This was a retrospective study.
In a highly selected group of acromegalic patients, GK treatment had good efficacy and safety.
This may lead to reconsider the role of GK in the therapeutic algorithm of acromegaly.
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