OBJECTIVE:A systematic review was performed to provide objective evidence on the use of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) in the management of secretory pituitary adenomas and develop consensus recommendations.
METHODS:The authors performed a systematic review of the English-language literature up until June 2018 using the PRISMA guidelines. The PubMed (Medline), Embase, and Cochrane databases were searched. A total of 45 articles reporting single-institution outcomes of SRS for acromegaly, Cushing’s disease, and prolactinomas were selected and included in the analysis.
RESULTS:For acromegaly, random effects meta-analysis estimates for crude tumor control rate, crude endocrine remission rate, and any new hypopituitarism rates were 97.0% (95% CI 96.0%–98.0%), 44.0% (95% CI 35.0%–53.0%), and 17.0% (95% CI 13.0%–23.0%), respectively. For Cushing’s disease, random effects estimates for crude tumor control rate, crude endocrine remission rate, and any new hypopituitarism rate were 92.0% (95% CI 87.0%–95.0%), 48.0% (95% CI 35.0%–61.0%), and 21.0% (95% CI 13.0%–31.0%), respectively. For prolactinomas, random effects estimates for crude tumor control rate, crude endocrine remission rate, and any new hypopituitarism rate were 93.0% (95% CI 90.0%–95.0%), 28.0% (95% CI 19.0%–39.0%), and 12.0% (95% CI 6.0%–24.0%), respectively. Meta-regression analysis did not show a statistically significant association between mean margin dose with crude endocrine remission rate or mean margin dose with development of any new hypopituitarism rate for any of the secretory subtypes.
CONCLUSIONS:SRS offers effective tumor control of hormone-producing pituitary adenomas in the majority of patients but a lower rate of endocrine improvement or remission.