Radiation tolerance of functioning pituitary tissue in gamma knife surgery for XXXX .

@entity1 @entity5 @entity4614 @entity977 @entity652
OBJECTIVE: This study is intended to contribute to a determination of the sensitivity of preserved hypophyseal function to focal radiation in @entity977 . METHODS: We compared two subgroups of @entity1 followed up for a median of 5 years after gamma knife surgery (GKS). Subgroup 1 (n = 30) showed @entity4614 . Subgroup 2 (n = 33) was continually eupituitary. These subgroups were taken from a previously published study relating to a larger group of 163 @entity1 with @entity977 treated by GKS and evaluated after a median follow-up period of 2 years. A relatively high treatment dose was used in this larger group (median, 20 Gy to the @entity5 margin for growth control in nonfunctioning @entity652 ; median, 35 Gy for hypersecreting @entity652 ). Early results approached those of microsurgery, and there were only a few side effects. In the present study, we compared 16 different variables in the same two subgroups to discover the relationships that caused a delayed appearance of @entity4614 . The main pretreatment and treatment parameters were measured on reconstructed treatment plans. This database was used for statistical evaluation. RESULTS: The relationship between the mean dose and the volume of functioning hypophysis was stronger in terms of worsening of pituitary function than that of the spot dose to different intrasellar structures. We found that for our group of @entity1 , the safe mean dose of radiation to the hypophysis was 15 Gy for gonadotropic and thyrotropic functions and 18 Gy for adrenocorticotropic function. The worsening of pituitary function was also significantly dependent on the dose to different anatomic levels of the infundibulum, but we did not succeed in fully characterizing this relationship. In addition, we discovered significant levels of dependency of postirradiation pituitary damage to different pretreatment and treatment variables. CONCLUSION: Knowledge of the radiation tolerance of functioning pituitary structures subjected to GKS can ensure better preservation of pituitary function after irradiation. This is valid for the group of @entity1 we studied. Our study's findings can be used as a guideline for GKS treatment of new @entity1 with @entity977 , and it can serve for comparison with the experience of other gamma knife centers.
