CyberKnife Radiosurgery in the Multimodal Management of Patients with Cushing Disease

Surgery is the primary treatment for Cushing disease. When surgery is unsuccessful in normalizing hypercortisolism, adjuvant radiation, such as stereotactic radiosurgery, may be useful to improve biochemical control.

This retrospective study included a cohort of consecutive patients treated with CyberKnife (CK) radiosurgery for active Cushing disease at Stanford Hospital and Clinics.

As first-line treatment, all patients underwent transsphenoidal surgery with histologic demonstration of an adrenocorticotropic hormone-producing pituitary adenoma. CK was performed as adjuvant therapy for persistent or recurrent disease. The median time between surgery and CK was 14 ± 34 months. Before CK, median maximal diameter of tumors was 9 mm (range, 7-32 mm), with cavernous sinus invasion in all patients (100%) and abutment of the optic chiasm in 1 patient (14.2%). With an average follow-up of 55.4 months, normalization of hypercortisolism was achieved in 4 patients (57.1%): 2 patients (28.5%) achieved normalization of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis without glucocorticoid replacement, and 2 patients developed hypoadrenalism (28.5%). The median time to biochemical remission was 12.5 months. Hypopituitarism occurred in only 1 patient (14.2%), and no patients had visual complications. Time between surgery and radiotherapy of <14 months was associated with a significantly improved biochemical remission rate (P = 0.02).

In a cohort of patients with Cushing disease, we demonstrate that CK is an effective treatment with rare complications.