Ricerc@Sapienza

External beam radiotherapy (RT) is an essential part of the management of intracranial tumors and has been used in treating pituitary adenomas for more than five decades. It has been demonstrated that conventional RT for postoperative residual or progressive nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas (NFAs) present an excellent long-term local tumor control, although its use has been limited because of the potential late toxicity related to radiation treatments.

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of a second course of fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (re-SRT) and temozolomide (TMZ) as salvage treatment option in patients with aggressive pituitary tumors (APTs) and pituitary carcinomas (PCs). Patients and Methods: Twenty-one patients with recurrent or progressive APTs (n = 17) and PCs (n = 4) who received combined TMZ and re-SRT, 36 Gy/18fractions or 37.5 Gy/15fractions, were retrospectively evaluated.