Consensus guideline for the diagnosis and management of pituitary adenomas in childhood and adolescence: Part 1, general recommendations

Diagnosis and management of pituitary adenomas in children and adolescents

BACKGROUND

Pituitary adenomas (PAs)-also now called pituitary neuroendocrine tumours or Pit-NETS-are rare in children and adolescents and exceptional below the age of 10. Most evidence-based high-quality data are derived from larger studies in adult patients.

AIMS

We will review recent knowledge on the epidemiology, clinical features, diagnosis, and treatment modalities of the different types of pituitary adenomas diagnosed in children and adolescents, emphasizing the many reasons why these cases should be discussed within pituitary-specific multidisciplinary teams with experts from both paediatric and adult practice.

CONCLUSIONS

Paediatric PA presents multiple peculiarities that may challenge their adequate management. They are overall proportionally larger and more aggressive than in adults, with potential mass effects including hypopituitarism. Hormonal hypersecretion is frequent, resulting in clinical syndromes affecting normal growth and pubertal development. Prolactinomas represent the most frequent subtype of PA found during childhood, followed by adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) and growth hormone (GH)-secreting adenomas, while clinically non-functioning adenomas are exceptionally diagnosed before the age of 16. The occurrence of a pituitary tumour in a young individual should also prompt genetic testing in each case, searching for either germline mutations in one of the known genes that may drive inherited/familial PA (such as the multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 or MEN1 gene, or the aryl hydrocarbon receptor interacting protein or AIP gene), or for a mosaic activating mutation of GNAS as found in the McCune-Albright syndrome.

Consensus guideline for the diagnosis and management of pituitary adenomas in childhood and adolescence: Part 2, specific diseases

Pituitary adenomas are rare in children and young people under the age of 19 (hereafter referred to as CYP) but they pose some different diagnostic and management challenges in this age group than in adults. These rare neoplasms can disrupt maturational, visual, intellectual and developmental processes and, in CYP, they tend to have more occult presentation, aggressive behaviour and are more likely to have a genetic basis than in adults. Through standardized AGREE II methodology, literature review and Delphi consensus, a multidisciplinary expert group developed 74 pragmatic management recommendations aimed at optimizing care for CYP in the first-ever comprehensive consensus guideline to cover the care of CYP with pituitary adenoma. Part 2 of this consensus guideline details 57 recommendations for paediatric patients with prolactinomas, Cushing disease, growth hormone excess causing gigantism and acromegaly, clinically non-functioning adenomas, and the rare TSHomas. Compared with adult patients with pituitary adenomas, we highlight that, in the CYP group, there is a greater proportion of functioning tumours, including macroprolactinomas, greater likelihood of underlying genetic disease, more corticotrophinomas in boys aged under 10 years than in girls and difficulty of peri-pubertal diagnosis of growth hormone excess. Collaboration with pituitary specialists caring for adult patients, as part of commissioned and centralized multidisciplinary teams, is key for optimizing management, transition and lifelong care and facilitates the collection of health-related quality of survival outcomes of novel medical, surgical and radiotherapeutic treatments, which are currently largely missing.