Approach to the patient with pituitary metastases initially manifested as central diabetes insipidus / 中华内分泌代谢杂志

ABSTRACT

The data of 10 patients with pituitary metastases were retrospectively analyzed, including tumor origin, clinical features, imaging characteristics, diagnosis and differential diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. The results showed that the average age of 10 patients at the time of consultation was 62.0 years. Nine metastases were originated from lung cancer and one from breast cancer. All patients started with central diabetes insipidus, and some of them accompanied with hypopituitarism, as well as occupancy manifestations such as headache, blurred vision, etc. MRI showed abnormalities in the pituitary stalk and posterior pituitary, four of which showed characteristic " dumbbell-shaped" changes. Three patients with epidermal growth factor receptor(EGFR)-mutated lung adenocarcinoma revealed improvement in both primary lesion and pituitary metastases after targeted therapy.