Antiproliferative effect of octreotide in somatotroph pituitary adenomas: discussion from a single case report

The case of a 20-year-old man presenting with a rapidly expanding pituitary somatotrophic adenoma with a tumour volume doubling time of 426 days is reported. Preoperative octreotide therapy induced a 45% tumour shrinkage and proliferating cells were absent at the time of tumoural resection. The correlation between clinical and proliferation markers data in this single case report affords an opportunity to discuss the antitumoral effect of octreotide on somatotrophic adenomas which may result from a suppression of cell proliferation.