Heavy particle therapy: pituitary tumors.

Therapy with 910 MeV alpha particles provides a treatment with no mortality and an extremely low morbidity and has been highly successful in the control of pituitary hormone hypersecretion and tumor growth. It is possible to deliver radiation doses to the pituitary gland that are sufficiently high to inhibit or destroy the tumor cells that cause abnormal secretory activity without damaging the surrounding structures. The data demonstrate the effectiveness of this form of treatment in acromegaly, non-functioning pituitary tumors, prolactin secreting adenomas, Cushing's disease and Nelson's syndrome.