If the following symptoms are found, pituitary tumor may be considered: 1. Long-term menstrual irregularities, amenorrhea, non-lactating breast overflow or unexplained infertility in women (according to statistics, 1/3 of infertility patients are due to hyperprolactinemia, 39.7%-44% of which are caused by prolactinoma).
2. Unexplained male hypoactive sexual desire, impotence, oligospermia, infertility, breast development, beard thinning, and feminization of voice.
3.Unexplained abnormal development or delayed puberty in children (e.g. lack of menarche and secondary sexual characteristics at puberty).
4, excessive physical growth, progressive thickening and enlargement of hands and feet, abnormal facial changes in adulthood (see acromegaly), (according to statistics, 99% of excessive growth hormone originates from pituitary tumors).
5, visual field disorders or unexplained progressive vision loss 6, sudden headache, sudden deterioration of visual acuity, even with impaired consciousness, should consider the possibility of pituitary stroke (hemorrhage).
In case of one of the above conditions, the possibility of pituitary tumor should be considered and further examination must be performed. Endocrinological tests are commonly used to determine not only the six pituitary hormones but also the target organ hormones (e.g. thyroid hormone, adrenal cortical hormone, etc.).
2, imaging examinations: ① CT, cranial CT can effectively show pituitary stroke and find larger pituitary tumors, it is difficult to confirm the diagnosis of pituitary microadenoma, coronal saddle area CT scan + enhancement can improve the detection rate, CT axial scan must include the pterygoid saddle area to avoid missed diagnosis.
② Magnetic resonance scan (MR), MR can better show pituitary tumor and its relationship with the surrounding, MR dynamic scan can show pituitary microadenoma below 5mm.