Medical therapies in pituitary adenomas: Current rationale for the use and future perspectives

Abstract

Pituitary adenomas (PA) represent in the majority of cases, benign tumors whose treatment currently associate surgery, medical therapies and radiotherapy in a multidisciplinary approach. While trans-sphenoidal surgery remains, except for prolactin-secreting adenomas, the first-line treatment of PA, it can considerably be hampered by the existence of an invasive and/or aggressive tumor for which medical therapies are often requested. In this review, we extensively discuss, both at molecular and clinical levels, the medical therapies currently used and in development in the different phenotypes of pituitary adenomas.

Keywords: Acromegaly; Acromégalie; Adénomes hypophysaires; Agonistes dopaminergiques; Analogues de la somatostatine; Cushing's disease; Dopamin agonist; Maladie de Cushing; Pituitary adenomas; Somatostatin analog.