Endocrine Tumor Treatment

Endocrine tumor symptoms

Symptoms of endocrine tumors vary according to tumor type. Where endocrine tumors begin determines the body functions they affect.

General signs and symptoms of an endocrine tumor include:

• A thickening or lump in a part of the body
• Ongoing pain in a specific area
• Anxiety or panic attacks
• Feeling nervous or irritable
• Confusion
• Depression
• Fatigue
• Fever
• Sweating
• Headaches
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea or other changes in bowel or bladder habits
• Unexplained weight gain or loss
• Intestinal bleeding
• Jaundice (yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes)
• Facial flushing (red cheeks that feel warm)

Endocrine tumor causes

Most childhood endocrine tumors have no known cause. Rarely, some childhood endocrine cancers (such as thyroid tumors) occur after treatment (such as neck radiation) for another cancer.

Some endocrine tumors (including some types of thyroid or adrenal cancers) occur as part of hereditary syndromes that are passed down in families. These syndromes include:

• Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) and Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN2): genetic conditions that increase the risk of developing more than 1 cancer of the endocrine system
• Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome: a genetic condition that causes rare, usually noncancerous tumors of the adrenal gland called pheochromocytomas

Endocrine tumor diagnosis

Doctors use several tests to diagnose endocrine tumors. Tests may include:

• Physical exam and health history
• Blood and urine tests to check hormone levels
• Imaging tests to learn about the size and location of the tumor
• Biopsy of the tumor to look at cells under a microscope

Endocrine tumor treatment

Multiple treatments may be used. Chemotherapy, radiation, or hormone replacement therapy may be given along with or after surgery. The goal is to lessen the chance that the tumor will return by killing or reducing the number of cells that may remain.

• Surgery is considered the best way to treat most endocrine tumors. The goal is to remove the entire tumor or as much as possible.
• Chemotherapy (“chemo”) uses powerful medicines to kill cancer cells or stop them from growing (dividing) and making more cancer cells. Chemotherapy is especially effective in germ cell tumors of the ovaries and testes.
• Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays or other types of radiation to kill cancer cells or stop them from growing. Radiation therapy may lessen the chance of the cancer returning, even if the tumor is resistant to radiation or has been completely removed.
  • External radiation uses machines outside the body to deliver the x-ray dose.
  • Internal radiation uses needles, seeds, wires, or catheters (tubes) to deliver the radiation directly into or close to the cancer.
  • Some types of thyroid cancer use radioactive iodine to find where the cancer may have spread and to help treat cancer that is left after surgery.
• Hormone therapy can lower hormone levels in the body to help stop the tumor from growing or relieve tumor symptoms.
  • Sometimes the thyroid gland will be removed because of thyroid cancer. Hormone therapy is typically used to replace hormones needed for normal body functioning. For some types of thyroid cancer, this is also a key part of the treatment to decrease the chance that cancer would grow or come back.

Endocrine tumor prognosis

Survival rates for endocrine tumors depend on the tumor type and location.

• For most patients with pituitary tumors, thyroid tumors, ovarian, or testicular germ cell tumors, the prognosis is quite good.
• For patients with adrenal tumors, 5-year survival rates range from less than 40% to greater than 85%, depending on how much the disease has spread when it is diagnosed.

Endocrine tumor clinical trials