Predicting recurrence/regrowth of non-functioning pituitary adenoma
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Predicting recurrence/regrowth of non-functioning pituitary adenoma by a combination of patients' clinical, biochemical, radiological and immunohistochemical outcomes.
IRAS ID
251432
Contact name
Stephanie Baldeweg
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 0 days
Research summary
Non-functioning pituitary adenomas are the most common pituitary tumours and because of the lack of hormone secretion, often patients present late with symptoms and signs of low pituitary hormone secretion and invasion of the optic nerves and nearby structures.
Treatment and follow-up remain a challenge despite complete surgical resection. Several studies showed a very high recurrence rate up to 60% even several years after the operation. There have been case reports of recurrence up to 15 years after having successful surgery.
Our Knowledge of the factors associated with recurrence is very limited and the optimal treatment regimen and duration of follow up have not yet been established.
Our study is a retrospective observational study. We are going to evaluate information and data of patients who were treated for non-functioning pituitary adenoma at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Data will include the natural history and clinical presentation of these patients, their biochemical and radiological results as well as tissue sample analysis (immunohistological analysis) obtained at the time of surgery.
The initial tissue analysis reports already included some of the predictive markers for tumour recurrence like cells proliferation index.
The new classification of the WHO of these tumours in 2015 suggested more potential tissue markers to predict the risk of tumour relapse. In our study, we are going to test the surgical tissue samples for these markers.
The aim of our study is to identify factors contributing to tumour recurrence. We aim to suggest optimal follow-up strategies for this patient group to allow early detection of recurrence/regrowth and eventually improve patient care.REC name
London - Westminster Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/LO/0230
Date of REC Opinion
7 Apr 2020
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion