Pituitary tumor is a benign brain tumor, which is relatively common. Let me introduce it to you in detail.
Pituitary gland is an important endocrine organ, which contains several kinds of endocrine cells and secretes many kinds of endocrine hormones.
The endocrine manifestations of different types of pituitary adenomas (1) Growth hormone cell adenoma: The early tumor is only a few millimeters in size and mainly shows excessive secretion of growth hormone.
(2) Prolactin cell adenoma: The main manifestations are amenorrhea, overflow of milk, sterility, axillary hair loss, pale and delicate skin, increased subcutaneous fat, as well as weakness, fatigue, drowsiness, headache, and hypogonadism. In men, the symptoms include loss of libido, impotence, breast enlargement, beard thinning, atrophy of the reproductive organs, reduction of sperm count and infertility, etc. There are not many male and female patients.
(3) Adrenocorticotropic hormone cell adenoma: clinical manifestations are centripetal obesity, full-moon face, buffalo back, polycythemia, purple lines on the skin of the abdomen and thighs, and increased fine hair. In severe cases, amenorrhea, loss of libido, general weakness, and even bedridden. Some patients also have hypertension, diabetes, etc.
(4) Thyroid-stimulating hormone tumor: Rarely, hyperthyroidism is caused by excessive secretion of thyroid-stimulating hormone from the pituitary gland, and the symptoms disappear after removal of the pituitary tumor. The symptoms of hyperthyroidism disappear after removal of the pituitary tumor. There are also cases of focal hyperplasia of the pituitary gland caused by hypothyroidism feedback, which gradually develops into pituitary adenoma.
(5) Follicle-stimulating hormone cell adenoma: Very rare, only a few reports of clinical hypogonadism, amenorrhea, infertility and reduced sperm count.
(6) Melanin-stimulating hormone cell adenoma: very rare, only a few patients reported black skin pigmentation without cortisol increase.
(7) Endocrine inactive adenoma: In early stage, the patient has no special feeling that the tumor grows up and can compress the pituitary gland causing clinical manifestations of pituitary insufficiency.
Early pituitary adenoma often has no visual field disorder. If the tumor grows up and extends upward, compressing the visual cross, visual field defect will appear, and the outer upper quadrant will be affected first, and the red visual field will show up first. Later, when the lesion increases and the pressure is heavier, the white visual field is also affected, and gradually the defect can be expanded to bilateral temporal hemianopia. If left untreated, the visual field defect can be further enlarged and the visual acuity can be diminished to total blindness. Because pituitary tumors are mostly benign, the initial lesions can last for a considerable period of time, but when the condition becomes severe, the visual field impairment can suddenly increase, and if the tumor is on one side, it can lead to monocular blindness or blindness.
3. Other neurological symptoms and signs If the pituitary tumor grows upward and presses the pituitary stalk or hypothalamus, it may cause excessive drinking and urination. If the tumor grows posteriorly and obstructs the anterior part of the 3rd ventricle and interventricular foramen, headache, vomiting and other symptoms of increased intracranial pressure will occur.
If the tumor grows backward, it may compress the brainstem and cause coma, paralysis or deactivation.