There is a term in medicine called “incidental tumor”, which means “incidental finding”, and pituitary tumor is a type of incidental tumor. Some patients may find out they have a pituitary tumor by chance during a cranial imaging study for other reasons.
For more information on the incidence of pituitary tumors, see the following study: 100 “healthy” adult volunteers underwent cranial MRI and about 10% of them were found to have suspected tumors in the pituitary region. Up to 27% of autopsy specimens from the normal population were found to contain pituitary tumors <1 cm. However, it is important to note that these individuals were "normal and healthy" until the end of their lives. Patients with onset of pituitary tumors More than 90% of patients with onset of pituitary tumors are pituitary microadenomas (tumors <1 cm in diameter). Among pituitary macroadenomas, tumors of 1cm-3cm account for more than 90%. Therefore, the vast majority of patients can be treated with medication, minimally invasive surgery and gamma knife with good prognosis. Even for patients with giant pituitary adenomas, which account for a very small percentage, with the improvement of medical facilities, equipment and instruments, and relying on the rich clinical experience of pituitary tumor specialist surgeons, the success rate of surgery is increasing year by year. In summary: pituitary tumor is a very common tumor, but pituitary tumor is not scary.