Future Treatment Strategies in Managing Aggressive Pituitary Tumors

Within this article, the authors discuss possible future treatments of pituitary tumors. The other day I discussed what is presently done in Current Treatment Strategies in Managing Aggressive Pituitary Tumors. Most of the time transsphenoidal endoscopic surgery is the first-line approach.

According to the authors, dopamine agonists (DAs) will continue to be the best treatment for prolactinomas, with new somatostatin receptor subtype 5 (SSTR5) possible alternatives in the future. The somatostatin analogs, octreotide and lanreotide, will continue to be the treatment of choice for acromegaly.

With Cushing's disease and incidentalomas, there really aren't any long-term pharmacological treatments. The authors offer hope for SSTR5 analogs within the next few years which will effectively treat the Cushing's. A combination of SSTR5 and SSTR2 combinations for treating the incidentalomas and preventing recurring tumor growth is a future possibility.

The authors conclude:

SSTR5 analogs, alone or in combination with DAs, may play a role in the
future medical management of Cushing’s disease, but not in the most aggressive
tumors, and ongoing trials may elucidate the future role of such agents. Until
then, surgery and radiotherapy will remain the mainstay of treatment for these
tumors.

Steven W. J. Lamberts, Leo J. Hofland (2008). Future treatment strategies of aggressive pituitary tumors Pituitary DOI: 10.1007/s11102-008-0154-y