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Prognostic indicators in pituitary tumors.
Agustinus Suhardja1, Kalman Kovacs, Oded Greenberg
1Department of Radiology, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 11203-2098, USA. agustinus.suhardja@downstate.edu
Endocrine Pathology
|July 8, 2005
Summary
Assessing pituitary tumor aggressiveness is crucial. Future molecular genetic methods will likely enhance and replace current immunohistochemical techniques for predicting tumor behavior.
Area of Science:
- Molecular pathology
- Oncology
- Endocrinology
Background:
- Accurate assessment of tumor behavior is vital for pituitary tumors due to a lack of correlation between morphology and aggressiveness.
- Current methods for assessing pituitary tumor behavior vary in reliability, ease of use, and effectiveness.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review current methods for assessing pituitary tumor behavior.
- To discuss the limitations of existing techniques.
- To predict future trends in pituitary tumor prognostication.
Main Methods:
- Review of morphologic and immunohistochemical techniques for pituitary tumor assessment.
- Discussion of molecular genetic procedures.
- Analysis of the prognostic value of different methods.
Main Results:
- Several morphologic techniques have been introduced, with varying success in clinical application.
- Immunohistochemical methods are currently used but have limitations.
- Molecular genetic procedures show promise for improved accuracy.
Conclusions:
- Reliable prognostication of pituitary tumors remains a challenge.
- Existing methods have limitations in distinguishing indolent from aggressive tumors.
- Molecular genetic techniques are expected to play a significant role in future pituitary tumor assessment.