Treatment of Pituitary Adenomas

Patients with pituitary adenomas present with diverse clinical syndromes related to the secretory activity of the tumor and the amount of residual normal pituitary tissue. Thyrotropin-producing pituitary adenomas are rare, but patients with this problem may be difficult to treat. The report by Comi and coworkers¹ in this issue of the Journal contains evidence that a somatostatin analogue provides effective medical therapy for this uncommon hormone-producing pituitary adenoma. Several investigators, including those at the National Institutes of Health,^{2 3 4} have successfully used the long-acting somatostatin analogue SMS 201–995 in the treatment of patients with acromegaly. Comi and colleagues document the value…