Delayed sequelae of pituitary irradiation

Since 1958, 781 patients at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory have received helium-particle stereotactic radiosurgery to the adenohypophysis. Autopsy findings in 15 of these patients are reported. Ten patients received pituitary radiation (average dose, 116 Gy in six fractions) for progressive neovascularization retinopathy due to diabetes mellitus. Evidence of a time-dependent course of progressive fibrosis in their pituitary glands was found. Five patients were treated for eosinophilic adenomas. Although they had lower average doses of radiation (56 Gy in six fractions), their pituitary glands showed cystic cavitation of the adenomas. The adenomas thus appeared more radiosensitive than the normal pars anterior, which, in turn, was more radiosensitive than the adjacent neurohypophysis. No significant radiation changes were found in the surrounding brain or cranial nerves. The endocrine organs under pituitary control showed varying degrees of atrophy, and clinical tests revealed progressive hypofunction. It was concluded that charged-particle therapy produced a sharply delineated focal radiation lesion confined to the pituitary gland but did not cause injury to the critical structures of the surrounding central nervous system.