Treatments for metastatic pituitary neuroendocrine tumours (PitNETs)
In rare cases, cancer cells from a pituitary neuroendocrine tumour (PitNET) can spread to the brain, the spinal cord and other parts of the body. When this happens, it is called a metastatic PitNET. (Metastatic PitNETs used to be called pituitary carcinomas.)
The following are treatment options for metastatic PitNETs. Your healthcare team will suggest treatments based on your needs and work with you to develop a treatment plan.
Drug therapy
If a metastatic PitNET is functioning (it makes too much of a certain hormone), drugs may be used to block the effects of that hormone. Dopamine agonists are used for prolactin-producing tumours. These drugs act like dopamine to lower the amount of prolactin and other hormones that the tumour makes.
Somatostatin analogues are used for metastatic PitNETs that make too much growth hormone, thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) or adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH).
Find out more about drug therapy for pituitary gland cancer.
Surgery
Surgery is usually offered for metastatic PitNETs. A craniotomy may be done to remove the tumour.
Find out more about surgery for pituitary gland cancer.
Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays or particles to destroy cancer cells. Metastatic PitNETs are sometimes treated with external radiation therapy, which uses a machine outside the body to direct a beam of radiation through the skin to a specific part of the body.
You may be offered radiation therapy after surgery or on its own when surgery can’t be done.
Find out more about radiation therapy for pituitary gland cancer.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy cancer cells. Chemotherapy is sometimes offered for metastatic PitNETs.
Find out more about chemotherapy for pituitary gland cancer.
Clinical trials
Talk to your doctor about clinical trials open to people with metastatic PitNETs in Canada. Clinical trials look at new ways to prevent, find and treat cancer. Find out more about clinical trials.
If you can't have or don't want cancer treatment
You may want to consider a type of care to make you feel better without treating the cancer itself. This may be because the cancer treatments don’t work anymore, they’re not likely to improve your condition or they may cause side effects that are hard to cope with. There may also be other reasons why you can’t have or don’t want cancer treatment.
Talk to your healthcare team. They can help you choose care and treatment for advanced cancer.
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