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Anti-VEGF therapy in pituitary carcinoma

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Abstract

We report the case of a 44-year-old male patient with an aggressive silent corticotroph cell pituitary adenoma, subtype 2. In that it progressed to carcinoma despite temozolomide administration, anti-VEGF therapy was begun. MRI, PET scan and pathologic analysis were undertaken. After 10 months of anti-VEGF (bevacizumab) treatment no progression of the lesion was noted. The tumor was biopsied and morphological analysis showed severe cell injury, vascular abnormalities and fibrosis. Bevacizumab treatment has continued for additional 16 months to present with stabilization of disease as documented on serial MRI and PET scans. This is the first case of a bevacizumab-treated pituitary carcinoma with long-term, now 26 months, control of disease. The present findings are promising in that anti-angiogenic therapy appears to represent a new option in the treatment of aggressive pituitary tumors.

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Acknowledgments

Authors are grateful to the Jarislowsky and Lloyd Carr Harris Foundations for their continuous support. The authors thank Mrs. Denise Chase of Mayo Clinic for excellent assistance and secretarial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Neuro-Oncology, Instituto de Cancerologia, Clinica Las Americas, Medellin, Colombia

    Leon D. Ortiz

  2. Department of Neurosurgery, Hospital Pablo Tobon Uribe and Clinica Medellin, Medellin, Colombia

    Luis V. Syro

  3. Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street, SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA

    Bernd W. Scheithauer

  4. Department of Pathology, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey

    Ayca Ersen

  5. Department of Neurosurgery, Clinica SOMA, Medellin, Colombia

    Humberto Uribe

  6. Section of Hematology/Oncology and Neurology, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH, USA

    Camilo E. Fadul

  7. Department of Laboratory Medicine, St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Fabio Rotondo, Eva Horvath & Kalman Kovacs

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  1. Leon D. Ortiz
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  2. Luis V. Syro
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  3. Bernd W. Scheithauer
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  4. Ayca Ersen
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  6. Camilo E. Fadul
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  7. Fabio Rotondo
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  8. Eva Horvath
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  9. Kalman Kovacs
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Correspondence to Bernd W. Scheithauer.

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Ortiz, L.D., Syro, L.V., Scheithauer, B.W. et al. Anti-VEGF therapy in pituitary carcinoma. Pituitary 15, 445–449 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11102-011-0346-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11102-011-0346-8

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