Pituitary apoplexy secondary to metastatic breast carcinoma into a gonadotroph cell adenoma of the pituitary

Colorectal carcinoma to pituitary tumour: tumour to tumour metastasis

We document a patient with colon adenocarcinoma who presented with rapidly worsening visual impairment. Staging computer tomography and subsequent magnetic resonance scans documented a sellar, suprasellar lesion compressing the optic chiasm. The patient underwent trans-sphenoidal surgery to relieve optic chiasm compression and obtain tissue for diagnosis. Histological examination revealed a metastatic mucinous adenocarcinoma in a gonadotroph pituitary neuroendocrine tumour (PitNET, formerly pituitary adenoma). The patient underwent adjuvant radiotherapy to the sella and chemotherapy but he died nine months after pituitary surgery. This report highlights the diagnostic and management challenges of metastases to PitNET.

Pituitary Apoplexy in Patients with Pituitary Neuroendocrine Tumors (PitNET)

Various complications of pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNET) are reported, and an intratumor hemorrhage or infarct underlying pituitary apoplexy (PA) represents an uncommon, yet potentially life-threatening, feature, and thus early recognition and prompt intervention are important. Our purpose is to overview PA from clinical presentation to management and outcome. This is a narrative review of the English-language, PubMed-based original articles from 2012 to 2022 concerning PA, with the exception of pregnancy- and COVID-19-associated PA, and non-spontaneous PA (prior specific therapy for PitNET). We identified 194 original papers including 1452 patients with PA (926 males, 525 females, and one transgender male; a male-to-female ratio of 1.76; mean age at PA diagnostic of 50.52 years, the youngest being 9, the oldest being 85). Clinical presentation included severe headache in the majority of cases (but some exceptions are registered, as well); neuro-ophthalmic panel with nausea and vomiting, meningism, and cerebral ischemia; respectively, decreased visual acuity to complete blindness in two cases; visual field defects: hemianopia, cranial nerve palsies manifesting as diplopia in the majority, followed by ptosis and ophthalmoplegia (most frequent cranial nerve affected was the oculomotor nerve, and, rarely, abducens and trochlear); proptosis (N = 2 cases). Risk factors are high blood pressure followed by diabetes mellitus as the main elements. Qualitative analysis also pointed out infections, trauma, hematologic conditions (thrombocytopenia, polycythemia), Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, and T3 thyrotoxicosis. Iatrogenic elements may be classified into three main categories: medication, diagnostic tests and techniques, and surgical procedures. The first group is dominated by anticoagulant and antiplatelet drugs; additionally, at a low level of statistical evidence, we mention androgen deprivation therapy for prostate cancer, chemotherapy, thyroxine therapy, oral contraceptives, and phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitors. The second category includes a dexamethasone suppression test, clomiphene use, combined endocrine stimulation tests, and a regadenoson myocardial perfusion scan. The third category involves major surgery, laparoscopic surgery, coronary artery bypass surgery, mitral valvuloplasty, endonasal surgery, and lumbar fusion surgery in a prone position. PA in PitNETs still represents a challenging condition requiring a multidisciplinary team from first presentation to short- and long-term management. Controversies involve the specific panel of risk factors and adequate protocols with concern to neurosurgical decisions and their timing versus conservative approach. The present decade-based analysis, to our knowledge the largest so far on published cases, confirms a lack of unanimous approach and criteria of intervention, a large panel of circumstantial events, and potential triggers with different levels of statistical significance, in addition to a heterogeneous clinical picture (if any, as seen in subacute PA) and a spectrum of evolution that varies from spontaneous remission and control of PitNET-associated hormonal excess to exitus. Awareness is mandatory. A total of 25 cohorts have been published so far with more than 10 PA cases/studies, whereas the largest cohorts enrolled around 100 patients. Further studies are necessary.

Early and isolated breast cancer metastasis to the pituitary: A case report and systematic review

Background:

Pituitary metastases (PMs) arising from breast cancer tend to occur many years following initial diagnosis, and after other systemic metastasis have been identified. Survival is generally considered to be poor. However, there are cases where patients present with an isolated metastatic lesion in the pituitary. Survival in this subset of patients has not been evaluated. We present a case of isolated PM that presented two years after initial diagnosis of breast cancer. We performed a systematic review of 38 breast cancer patients with PM. We report presentation, treatment strategy, and outcomes of breast cancer metastasis to the pituitary and highlight cases of isolated PM.

Case Description:

A 39 year old female presented with complaints of headache and polydipsia two years after diagnosis with breast cancer. Systemic workup was unremarkable, but brain imaging identified an isolated PM. Transsphenoidal debulking was performed with adjuvant radiation therapy (RT) targeted to the sellar region. Unfortunately, she passed away 9 months later from systemic progression.

Conclusion:

A total of 38 patients were included systematic review. Of these, 13 had isolated PM. Prevalent signs/ symptoms included visual disturbance, diabetes insipidus (DI), and hypothalamic dysfunction. Patients treated with surgical resection and adjuvant chemotherapy (ChT), or RT had better survival than those treated with resection alone. Patients that receive treatment for isolated PM may survive for many years without progression or recurrence.

Pituitary Metastatic Composite Tumors: A Case Report with Next-Generation Sequencing and Review of the Literature

Background

While pituitary tumors are well understood, little research has been done on metastasis from primary tumors into pituitary adenomas, also known as composite tumors. Because only 34 cases of composite tumors have been reported to date, we hope to better characterize these tumors by reviewing cases reported in the literature and reviewed our own documented case, which includes next-generation sequencing. Case Presentation. A 74-year-old man presented to the emergency department with left vision loss for 3 months. He had a history of colon cancer treated with colectomy and clear cell renal carcinoma treated with left nephrectomy. A preoperative MRI demonstrated growth of a peripherally enhancing, centrally necrotic mass with sellar expansion measuring 5.7 × 3.1 × 3.0 cm. Given these findings, an endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal resection was performed. Histological assessment revealed a composite tumor: one neoplasm was a nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma, and another neoplasm was a clear cell carcinoma. Next-generation sequencing demonstrated that the tumors shared mutations in VHL and Notch2. The patient died 2 months later from systemic metastatic cancer.

Conclusion

From our literature review, most metastatic lesions in these composite tumors originated from neoplasms of the lung and kidney. Approximately 63% patients presented with ophthalmoplegia as the initial symptom while 23% displayed hormonal abnormalities. Postoperative mortality had a median of 3.5 months. In our patient, the presence of VHL and Notch2 mutations in both tumors highlights the possibility of using next-generation sequencing to help identify therapeutic targets even in complex composite neoplasms.

[Breast cancer metastasis into a giant hormone-inactive pituitary adenoma adenoma. (Clinical case and literature review)]

Brain metastases of various types of cancer are diagnosed in 8-10% of all cancer patients. In the world literature, only 30 cases of cancer metastasis to the pituitary adenoma are described. This article presents yet another observation of a patient with breast cancer metastasis into the hormone-inactive pituitary adenoma at the Burdenko neurosurgical center, Russia The patient underwent endoscopic endonasal transsphenoid removal of the neoplasm. During microscopy and immunohistochemical studies of the biopsy, two types of tissue (pituitary adenoma and cancer metastasis) with different Ki-67 treated surgically (1% and over 40%) were found.