Chemical hypophysectomy for relief of bone pain in carcinoma of the prostate.

A series is presented of 10 patients with intractable pain secondary to diffuse metastatic prostatic carcinoma. These patients underwent pituitary ablation by a new method of chemical hypophysectomy, which consisted of multiple injections of absolute alcohol into the pituitary gland under stereotaxic control. Of the 10 patients 9 had good to excellent pain relief. There was no operative mortality. The sequelae are those associated with pituitary destruction, the most significant being diabetes insipidus. Preoperative and postoperative hormonal studies failed to reveal any significant hormonal changes despite good and almost immediate pain relief.