Radiosurgery for pituitary tumors and craniopharyngiomas

Standard techniques of conventional radiation therapy have been used for many years to treat pituitary adenomas and craniopharyngiomas. These techniques are not always effective and carry with them morbidity in the form of damage to the normal pituitary gland, damage to the hypothalamus, the potential of damage to the visual system and to intellectual functions of the brain and a small but real risk of the development of secondary malignancies. In an effort to avoid these complications and to provide more effective adjunctive radiation therapy, techniques of stereotactic delivery of high-dose radiation to the pituitary region have been developed, known as radiosurgery. The history of the development of radiosurgery and its application to pituitary problems are recounted in this article, as are a number of the controversies that currently exist and need to be considered as these modalities of stereotactic radiosurgery are applied more frequently and to better effect in the future.