Young women of childbearing age are most likely to suffer from pituitary tumors, which can cause great damage to young women by causing infertility. Therefore, knowing the symptoms of pituitary tumors can help young women to detect the disease early and to get rid of the infertility risk caused by the disease.
Hypopituitarism: The degree of hypopituitarism is related to the degree of pressure on the normal pituitary gland cells. As a result of hypopituitarism, the endocrine glands under its control atrophy and exhibit multiple dysfunctions. Hypopituitarism is often seen in the advanced stages of pituitary suspensory adenomas or eosinophilic adenomas.
Hypopituitarism: Eosinophils produce growth hormone and prolactin. Basophils produce thyrotropic hormone, adrenal hormone and gonadotropin. Thus, these tumors can cause hyperfunction of the pituitary gland, especially in the early stages. Although eosinophilic adenomas may have excessive growth hormone production, they may squeeze basophils, causing them to be hypofunctional.
Symptoms of posterior pituitary and subthalamic involvement: Tumors affecting the posterior pituitary or subthalamic gland may produce salivation, impaired fat metabolism, hypothermia, and water, polyhydration, polyuria, and electrolytes.
Signs and symptoms of optic nerve compression: As the tumor grows in the pterygoid saddle, upward development will compress the optic cross or optic nerve and cause changes in vision and visual field. 90% of patients have vision loss, or even monocular vision loss, or even blindness in one or both eyes. The change of visual field may vary depending on the compression of the nerve or optic cross, and the compression of the optic cross may result in bilateral temporal hemianopia or temporal blindness in one eye. The majority of patients have primary optic nerve atrophy, the extent of which varies depending on the degree of optic nerve compression, from the optic papillary tinge to the typical primary optic nerve atrophy. Only a few cases have optic nerve papillary edema due to increased intracranial pressure.
Signs and symptoms of endocrine and metabolic disorders: The endocrine function of the pituitary gland is very complex, mainly under the domination of the central nervous system, through endocrine control of human growth, sexual function, material metabolism and regulation of physiological activities such as sexual organs and development. The anterior pituitary gland is known to secrete six hormones, namely growth hormone, adrenocorticotropic hormone, prolactin, thyroid stimulating hormone and two gonadotropins. The eosinophilic and basophilic adenoma cells themselves have endocrine functions and can cause excessive hormone levels, resulting in hyperpituitary function, but the tumor can also squeeze the normal pituitary gland, resulting in hypopituitary function.
In addition, the tumor can involve the hypothalamus upward and the posterior pituitary gland backward. The posterior pituitary gland contains antidiuretic hormone and oxytocin, so posterior pituitary gland involvement can lead to uremia.