Current Clinical Trials

Transsphenoidal surgery is the treatment of choice for patients with thyrotropic adenomas.[1] Adjuvant radiation therapy may be employed when surgery is known to be noncurative even if the patient is still euthyroid because relapse is inevitable, and the full effect of radiation therapy requires months or years. Medical therapy may be required for patients who still have hyperthyroid symptoms despite surgery and external radiation. Somatostatin analogues are the drugs of choice for treatment; however, the efficacy of treatment may wane with time.[1-4]

Standard treatment options:[1-4]

1. Surgery (usually a transsphenoidal approach).
2. Somatostatin analogues, such as octreotide.

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's PDQ Cancer Clinical Trials Registry that are now accepting patients with pituitary tumor ¹. The list of clinical trials can be further narrowed by location, drug, intervention, and other criteria.

General information about clinical trials is also available from the NCI Web site ².

References

1. Brucker-Davis F, Oldfield EH, Skarulis MC, et al.: Thyrotropin-secreting pituitary tumors: diagnostic criteria, thyroid hormone sensitivity, and treatment outcome in 25 patients followed at the National Institutes of Health. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 84 (2): 476-86, 1999.  [PUBMED Abstract]
   
   
2. Levy A: Pituitary disease: presentation, diagnosis, and management. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 75 (Suppl 3): iii47-52, 2004.  [PUBMED Abstract]
   
   
3. Caron P, Arlot S, Bauters C, et al.: Efficacy of the long-acting octreotide formulation (octreotide-LAR) in patients with thyrotropin-secreting pituitary adenomas. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 86 (6): 2849-53, 2001.  [PUBMED Abstract]
   
   
4. Teramoto A, Sanno N, Tahara S, et al.: Pathological study of thyrotropin-secreting pituitary adenoma: plurihormonality and medical treatment. Acta Neuropathol (Berl) 108 (2): 147-53, 2004.  [PUBMED Abstract]