Radiosurgery for pituitary tumors and craniopharyngiomas

Standard techniques of conventional radiation therapy have been used for ma ny years to treat pituitary adenomas and craniopharyngiomas. These techniqu es are not always effective and carry with them morbidity in the form of da mage to the normal pituitary gland, damage to the hypothalamus, the potenti al of damage to the visual system and to intellectual functions of the brai n and a small but real risk of the development of secondary malignancies. I n an effort to avoid these complications and to provide more effective adju nctive radiation therapy techniques of stereotactic delivery of high-dose r adiation to the pituitary region have been developed, known as radiosurgery . The history of the development of radiosurgery and its application to pit uitary problems are recounted in this article, as are a number of the contr oversies that currently exist and need to be considered as these modalities of stereotactic radiosurgery are applied more frequently and to better eff ect in the future.