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Long-term management in five cases of TSH-secreting pituitary adenomas: a single center study and review of the literature

Clinical Endocrinology, Department of Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology, Charité Campus Mitte, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1 D-10117, Berlin, Germany

(Correspondence should be addressed to M Quinkler; Email: marcus.quinkler{at}charite.de)

Objective: TSH-secreting pituitary tumors (TSH-omas) are a rare cause of hyperthyroidism and account for <1% of all pituitary adenomas. Failure to recognize the presence of a TSH-oma may result in dramatic consequences such as thyroid ablation that may cause further growth in pituitary tumor. The primary goal of the treatment of TSH-omas is to remove the pituitary tumor. Medical treatment includes dopaminergic agonists or somatostatin analogs.

Methods and results: We report five cases of TSH-oma diagnosed between 1997 and 2006 and review the literature. All the patients are females with an age range from 54 to 65 years at diagnosis. Four of the five patients had at least one event of thyroid surgery due to goiter or nodule of unknown dignity. Three of the five patients had a stroke before the diagnosis of TSH-oma, probably due to hypertension, or smoking and contraceptive treatment. One patient with invasive tumor growth received stereotactic radiotherapy (and developed panhypopituitarism after operation), another patient received somatostatin analogs preoperatively and successfully underwent transsphenoidal operation. Three of the five patients received dopaminergic agonists (bromocriptine 5 mg daily or cabergoline 0.5–0.75 mg per week), because they refused surgical therapy or the tumor was stable under dopaminergic therapy. All patients have been followed-up for 2.5–8 years. A normalization of circulating thyroid hormone levels was achieved in all patients. The patient who underwent operation shows no recurrence of the disease. The other patients have a stable pituitary mass without signs of growth.

Conclusion: We report the successful long-term treatment of TSH-omas with different therapies.