Robert B. Marcus, Jr, MD

Pituitary adenomas are benign neoplasms that can be effectively managed by a variety of therapeutic options. The clinician's goal in managing patients with these tumors should be to minimize the morbidity of each intervention used in diagnosis and treatment. Standard diagnostic interventions include MRI, hormonal assessment, and tissue diagnosis. Therapies include transsphenoidal surgery, external-beam radiotherapy, newer stereotactic irradiation techniques, and medical management. Appropriate treatment selection requires detailed knowledge of the expected outcomes and side effects of each option. Newer and perhaps less toxic treatment techniques are evolving and require further evaluation. [ONCOLOGY 11(6):791-796, 1997]

For all the vast literature concerning survival after treatment for cancer, few articles provide long-term follow-up. At best, most provide 5-year survival statistics, the majority being actuarial, which means that many of the patients included do not even have 5-year follow-up. A few articles give 10-year data and call these long-term. But 5 or even 10 years is not a very long time for a child or young adult hoping for a normal life span, or for clinicians wishing to be able to predict a patient's prognosis after treatment.