Effect of Gamma knife on endocrine changes in patients with functional pituitary prolactinomas / 中华神经医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of Gamma knife treatment on patients with functional pituitary prolactinoma(PRL)and its endocrine response.Method We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 135 cases of functional pituitary prolactinoma treated with Gamma knife in our hospital from Oct 1994 to Jan 2008.All patients were divided into 3 groups:group A(a central dose of 50 to 60 Gy,a marginal dose of 20 to 30 Gy);group B(a central dose of 40 to 50 Gy,a marginal dose of 15 to 25 Gy)and group C(a central dose of 30 to 40 Gy,amarginal dose of 12 to 20 Gy).The dose in the optic nerves of the 3 groups was under 9 Gy. Results After treated with Gamma knife,partial remission(PR)of the clinical symptoms appeared in 90 patients(66.7%);complete remission(CR)of those was showed in 35(25.9%)and no change of those appeared in 10(7.4%).No significant difference was found between age and both sex and tumor sizes in the 3 group(P<0.05).Different normal PRL rates was concluded by using different doses of Gamma knife(F=8.604,P=0.000).Pairwise comparison indicated that high dose of Gamma knife resulted in high PRL normal rates with statistical significance (P<0.05). Conclusion Gamma knife treatment used in patients with functional pituitary adenoma can not only control the growth of tumor,but also improve the dysfunction of endocrine,which should be adopted as the first choice for clinical treatment of functional pituitary prolactinoma.