A silent corticotroph pituitary carcinoma: lessons from an exceptional case

Nowadays, neither imaging nor pathology evaluation can accurately predict the aggressiveness or treatment resistance of pituitary tumors at diagnosis. However, histological examination can provide useful information that might alert clinicians about the nature of pituitary tumors. Here, we describe...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Remón-Ruiz, Pablo, Venegas-Moreno, Eva, Dios-Fuentes, Elena, Canelo Moreno, Juan Manuel, Fernández Peña, Ignacio, Alonso García, Miriam, Soto Moreno, Alfonso Manuel
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Sevilla (US)
Repositorio:idUS. Depósito de Investigación de la Universidad de Sevilla
OAI Identifier:oai:idus.us.es:11441/137243
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/11441/137243
https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2021.784889
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Pituitary tumor
Silent corticothoph tumor
Pituitary carcinoma
Radiotherapy
Descripción
Sumario:Nowadays, neither imaging nor pathology evaluation can accurately predict the aggressiveness or treatment resistance of pituitary tumors at diagnosis. However, histological examination can provide useful information that might alert clinicians about the nature of pituitary tumors. Here, we describe our experience with a silent corticothoph tumor with unusual pathology, aggressive local invasion and metastatic dissemination during follow-up. We present a 61-year-old man with third cranial nerve palsy at presentation due to invasive pituitary tumor. Subtotal surgical approach was performed with a diagnosis of silent corticotroph tumor but with unusual histological features (nuclear atypia, frequent multinucleation and mitotic figures, and Ki-67 labeling index up to 70%). After a rapid regrowth, a second surgical intervention achieved successful debulking. Temozolomide treatment followed by stereotactic fractionated radiotherapy associated with temozolomide successfully managed the primary tumor. However, sacral metástasis showed up 6 months after radiotherapy treatment. Due to aggressive distant behavior, a carboplatine-etoposide scheme was decided but the patient died of urinary sepsis 31 months after the first symptoms. Our case report shows how the presentation of a pituitary tumor with aggressive features should raise a suspicion of malignancy and theneed of follow up by multidisciplinary team with experience in its management. Metastases may occur even if the primary tumor is well controlled.