Colon metastasis to residual pituitary macroadenoma causing accelerated growth: Case report and review of the literature

"Intrasellar tumor-to-tumor metastasis: A single center experience with a systematic review"

PURPOSE

This study investigates the rare occurrence of tumor-to-tumor metastasis in Pituitary Neuroendocrine Tumors (PitNETs), also known as pituitary adenomas, aiming to enhance understanding of its diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. We report two cases from our institution of tumor-to-tumor metastasis involving PitNETs, followed by a systematic literature review.

METHODS

We conducted a comprehensive literature review using PubMed and Google Scholar databases. This review provides insights into patient demographics, clinical presentations, primary tumor origin, management approaches and outcomes.

RESULTS

We identified 38 documented cases of tumor-to-tumor metastasis involving the pituitary gland in the literature. This revealed a diverse range of primary tumor origins, with lung, breast, and renal carcinomas being the most prevalent. Clinical presentations varied, with visual disturbances emerging as the most frequently reported symptom. Surgical interventions predominantly resulted in subtotal resection. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis demonstrated that endoscopic endonasal approaches (EEA) are associated with longer median survival times compared to other surgical methods.

CONCLUSION

Tumor-to-tumor metastasis to PitNETs must be considered in differential diagnoses of sellar masses. Prompt and accurate diagnosis, coupled with a multidisciplinary treatment strategy, is essential. Our study contributes to the scarce literature on such metastases, providing a foundation for further understanding of this complex pathological entity.

Pituitary Metastatic Composite Tumors: A Case Report with Next-Generation Sequencing and Review of the Literature

Background

While pituitary tumors are well understood, little research has been done on metastasis from primary tumors into pituitary adenomas, also known as composite tumors. Because only 34 cases of composite tumors have been reported to date, we hope to better characterize these tumors by reviewing cases reported in the literature and reviewed our own documented case, which includes next-generation sequencing. Case Presentation. A 74-year-old man presented to the emergency department with left vision loss for 3 months. He had a history of colon cancer treated with colectomy and clear cell renal carcinoma treated with left nephrectomy. A preoperative MRI demonstrated growth of a peripherally enhancing, centrally necrotic mass with sellar expansion measuring 5.7 × 3.1 × 3.0 cm. Given these findings, an endoscopic endonasal transsphenoidal resection was performed. Histological assessment revealed a composite tumor: one neoplasm was a nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma, and another neoplasm was a clear cell carcinoma. Next-generation sequencing demonstrated that the tumors shared mutations in VHL and Notch2. The patient died 2 months later from systemic metastatic cancer.

Conclusion

From our literature review, most metastatic lesions in these composite tumors originated from neoplasms of the lung and kidney. Approximately 63% patients presented with ophthalmoplegia as the initial symptom while 23% displayed hormonal abnormalities. Postoperative mortality had a median of 3.5 months. In our patient, the presence of VHL and Notch2 mutations in both tumors highlights the possibility of using next-generation sequencing to help identify therapeutic targets even in complex composite neoplasms.

[Breast cancer metastasis into a giant hormone-inactive pituitary adenoma adenoma. (Clinical case and literature review)]

Brain metastases of various types of cancer are diagnosed in 8-10% of all cancer patients. In the world literature, only 30 cases of cancer metastasis to the pituitary adenoma are described. This article presents yet another observation of a patient with breast cancer metastasis into the hormone-inactive pituitary adenoma at the Burdenko neurosurgical center, Russia The patient underwent endoscopic endonasal transsphenoid removal of the neoplasm. During microscopy and immunohistochemical studies of the biopsy, two types of tissue (pituitary adenoma and cancer metastasis) with different Ki-67 treated surgically (1% and over 40%) were found.