Long-Term Natural Course of Pituitary Tumors in Patients With MEN1

Long-Term Natural Course of Pituitary Tumors in Patients With MEN1: Results From the DutchMEN1 Study Group (DMSG)

Joanne M. de Laat, Olaf M. Dekkers, et al.
The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 2015 100:9, 3288-3296;

Results:

...Ninety-one percent of the nonfunctioning PIT detected during screening (n = 35), did not require intervention during followup (median, 6.0 y). Three microadenomas showed limited growth but did not progress toward macroadenomas. Both screening-detected and prevalent prolactinomas ...responded well to treatment with dopamine agonists.

Conclusion:

Systematic presymptomatic screening for PIT in patients with MEN1 predominantly results in detection of nonfunctioning microadenomas. Prolactinoma in patients with MEN1 responded well to medical treatment. Microadenomas grew only occasionally and after many years without clinical consequences. Frequent magnetic resonance imaging followup of nonfunctioning microadenomas in the context of MEN1 and sporadically occurring PITs therefore seems debatable.