A conservative management is preferable in milder forms of pituitary tumor apoplexy.

AIM: Our objective was to report a single-center experience of the management of pituitary tumor apoplexy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed a series of 44 patients hospitalized for pituitary apoplexy between January 1996 and March 2008 at the Timone Hospital, Marseille, France. RESULTS: Most frequent presenting symptoms were headaches (93%), visual impairment (85%) and vomiting (59%). Hypopituitarism was present at diagnosis in 88% of patients, with a high incidence of corticotroph deficiency (70%). A risk factor was found in 52% of patients, mostly hypertension. Apoplexy occurred in a previously undiagnosed pituitary adenoma in 32/44 cases (73%). The apoplectic event concerned 12 secreting, 27 non-functioning, 4 uncharacterized adenomas and one Rathke's pouch cyst. Nineteen patients underwent surgery within the first month, and one patient had conventional radiotherapy. Twenty-four patients, who had no ophthalmic or neurological signs, were conservatively treated in first intention; among them, 6 received high dose corticosteroids. After a median follow-up of 21 months, there was no significant difference in terms of endocrine or visual recovery between the operated and the conservatively treated groups, nor between patients treated with corticosteroids or not. Panhypopituitarism was observed in 52% of patients, but partial or complete visual recovery was present in the majority of patients (91%), whatever the therapeutic approach. CONCLUSION: The outcome of patients treated with or without surgery for pituitary apoplexy without severe neuro-ophthalmic deficits seems to be identical, pleading for a conservative management of pituitary apoplexy in the absence of visual emergency.

Aggressive multimodal therapy of sporadic malignant insulinoma can improve survival: a retrospective 35-year study of 12 patients.

AIM: Sporadic malignant insulinoma (SMI) is a rare disease, and the consequent paucity of data in the literature and the development of aggressive treatments for liver metastases have led us to retrospectively analyze a series of 12 cases of SMI. METHODS: Every patient presenting with SMI, according to the WHO 2004 histopathology criteria, between 1970 and June 2005 in Marseille was included in the study. Patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN-1) and tumours of uncertain malignant potential were excluded. RESULTS: The ratio of male/female was 4/8, and mean age at diagnosis was 52.5 years. A 48-h fasting test in 10 patients was conclusive in nine, after a mean duration of 12 h 45 min. SMI size ranged from 7-120 mm (mean 30.3mm). Six patients had liver metastases and one had isolated lymph-node invasion. Surgery was performed in 12 patients. Five persisting diseases (mean follow-up of 1.8 years) required other treatments (chemoembolization, radiofrequency thermoablation [RFTA], liver transplantation); one patient relapsed 8.5 years after surgery; six were still in complete remission (mean follow-up of 5.8 years), and one patient had died by the time of the 24-month follow-up. CONCLUSION: Aggressive sequential multimodal therapy can prolong the survival of patients with SMI even in the presence of liver metastases.

[Therapeutic strategies in somatotroph adenomas with extrasellar extension: role of the medical approach, a consensus study of the French Acromegaly Registry]. / Stratégies thérapeutiques dans les adénomes somatotropes avec extension extrasellaire. Place du traitement médical. Etude consensus du Répetoire français de l'Acromégalie.

UNLABELLED: From the first 198 patient files included into the French Acromegaly Registry, we analyzed 68 patients harboring a somatotroph adenoma with extrasellar extension, after exclusion of those treated by stereotactic or conventional radiotherapy. In these patients (including 37 women), aged 21-77 yr. (45.7 +/- 13.3), GH concentrations ranged from 2-260 microg/L (38.6 +/- 44.3), and IGF I from 86-967% of age-matched upper limit of normal (303 +/- 164). Maximal diameter of the adenoma at MRI was 11-36.5 mm (20.4 +/- 6.5), with cavernous sinus involvement in 68% of cases. Three subgroups were defined: 20 patients treated by long-acting somatostatin analogs only (group M), for a mean duration of 3 yr. (extremes 1-7 yr.), 48 patients initially treated by transsphenoidal surgery (group C), of whom 21 were secondarily treated by long-acting somatostatin analogs (group CM) for a mean duration of 1.2 yr. (extremes 0.2-2 yr.). All 3 groups were not statistically different in terms of tumor mass and initial levels of GH and IGF-1. Patients from group M were significantly older than those of the other groups (p<0.05). RESULTS: 46% of patients from group C after surgery vs. 45% of patients from group M had a mean GH below 2.5 microg/L. Biochemical remission (GH<2.5 microg/L and normal IGF1 normal) was obtained in 31% of cases in group C, vs. 25% in group M. In this group, a decrease of the largest tumor diameter was observed in 10 patients (71.5%), ranging from 10-25% in 7 (50%) and exceeded 50% in 3 (21.5%). In group CM, the biochemical remission rate (42%) and final GH or IGF1 values were not significantly different from group M. In conclusion, these data suggest that surgery or long-acting somatostatin analogs have a comparable efficacy in terms of remission rates in somatotroph macroadenomas with extrasellar extensions.

[Impetigo herpetiformis, a rare manifestation of severe hypocalcemia]. / L'impétigo herpétiforme, une manifestation rare de l'hypocalcémie sévère.

A case of impetigo herpetiformis associated with profound hypocalcemia secondary to idiopathic hypoparathyroidism is reported. This clinical observation and the review of similar cases in the literature recall that this rare and severe skin disease related to psoriasis can be the first manifestation of hypoparathyroidism and responds very well to the calcium reloading.