I was told by the outpatient doctor that based on my current condition, I would need to be hospitalized for a transsphenoidal pituitary adenomectomy. My head is spinning and my back is chilling. No one around me has ever had this surgery, so I’m scared! Doctor, what does “pituitary adenomectomy” mean?
To understand this kind of disease, we need to understand what the pituitary gland does: the “pituitary gland” in our brain is the general headquarters of the human neuroendocrine system, while “pituitary adenoma” is a benign tumor from the pituitary gland itself. Only a few cases of malignant lesions have been reported worldwide, and the vast majority of patients with pituitary adenomas have benign tumors or other lesions of the pituitary gland.
Clinically, we divide pituitary adenomas into two categories.
1. One type of pituitary adenoma has the function of hormone secretion, like a hard worker still “working hard” for the human body, constantly producing all kinds of hormones necessary for the human body – only it is too hard working, producing too many hormones and thus causing adverse effects on our The most common hormone is prolactinoma. The most common type of hormone is prolactinoma, for example, which can cause irregular menstrual cycles and even amenorrhea in women, failure to conceive in young women, and abnormal milk secretion during non-lactation periods; osteoporosis in older women, and loss of libido and sexual dysfunction in men.
The clinical treatment is divided into medication and surgery. Since there are now specific medications for prolactinomas, most patients with prolactin adenomas are treated by endocrinologists who specialize in pituitary function disorders and rarely require surgery. However, there are some functional adenomas that require aggressive surgical treatment, and these pituitary adenomas often cause acromegaly and Cushing’s disease in patients.
“Acromegaly (or “gigantism” in childhood onset) is caused by “overactive” growth hormone-secreting cells in the pituitary gland, which produce large amounts of growth hormone, causing the patient to Cushing’s disease is the same, because the pituitary gland overproduces adrenal hormone, which acts on the patient’s adrenal glands and then causes excessive secretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone, resulting in “full moon face”, “buffalo back”, and “centripetal obesity”. This causes symptoms such as “full moon face”, “buffalo back” and “centripetal obesity”. For this type of pituitary adenoma, after surgical removal, the hormone level in most patients can be restored to normal and the symptoms can be relieved.
2, another type of pituitary adenoma does not secrete hormones, we call it “pituitary non-functional adenoma”, it is like a lazy man, just keep on “getting fat”, but do not work, do not produce any useful hormones for the human body –But this “fat pituitary” is so fat that it compresses our normal pituitary tissue. Compression of normal pituitary tissue causes dysfunction, resulting in a decrease in normal hormone production, so unlike the “overactive” functional pituitary adenoma, this pituitary gland can be in a hypofunctional state.
In addition, continued enlargement of the tumor can also compress the normal structures surrounding the pituitary gland (occupying effect), which can lead to symptoms such as headaches and visual field defects. Therefore, although pituitary adenomas are small, they can be harmful and require clinical intervention. For tumor types that cannot be controlled by medications, the tumor can be surgically removed to relieve the compression of the surrounding tissues and relieve symptoms.
The pituitary gland is located in the intracranial “traffic artery”, and its surrounding structures are very important, which affects the whole body. The ophthalmic and maxillary branches of the trigeminal nerve (CNV1, CNV2), as well as the abducens nerve (CNVI) and the cavernous segment of the internal carotid artery located in the center of the cavernous sinus. The abducens nerve and the cavernous sinus segment of the internal carotid artery are more likely to be injured because they are closer to the pituitary gland.
Second, I have heard from friends who have undergone surgery that they don’t know anything after anesthesia. Doctor, how does pituitary tumor surgery work? I would like to know about it so I can have a good idea!
Most pituitary adenomas are not allowed to be opened, but are removed minimally invasively through the nostrils and pterygoid sinuses. The pterygoid sinus is an air cavity surrounded by bone not far from the posterior nostril, and its bony structures encircle the area where the pituitary gland is located, known as the pituitary fossa. The pituitary gland sits securely on top of this depression on the back of the pterygoid bone like a horse, hence the name of this part of the pterygoid bone, the pterygoid saddle. The surgery is performed through the nostrils and through the opening of the pterygoid sinus into the pituitary fossa, allowing the surgeon to perform the surgery with the help of a microscope or endoscope in a smaller surgical space and with less side trauma.
However, in some special cases, we also need to perform craniotomy in order to fully reveal the larger tumor.
The pituitary gland is located deep in the middle of the skull, so how can we reach the pterygoid saddle?
There are three basic paths in surgery. Internationally, most neurosurgeons currently apply a direct transnasal route. There are two strategies: one is to enter the pterygoid sinus through the posterior nostril and perform the surgical operation of pituitary tumor removal; the other is to reach the pterygoid sinus through a “tunnel” along the nasal septum, which is slightly more invasive. There is another traditional method, the sublabial approach, which is still used by a few physicians.
Third, doctor, you said that transnasal pituitary tumor resection is now mainly applied, but my nostrils are so small, what equipment and techniques does the doctor use to observe the tumor intraoperatively?
It is true that the operating channel of transsphenoidal approach is very small, about less than 50 px in diameter, therefore, it is necessary to use auxiliary tools to understand the condition of the tumor in the operating area. With the rapid advancement of technology, aids dedicated to the delicate surgical localization have been developed, namely high magnification surgical microscopes and fiberoptic endoscopes, which can help surgeons to view the tumor area in detail through small holes.
The surgical microscope can provide surgeons with high-quality double-pupil stereoscopic vision, which is very helpful for removing microscopic tumors (e.g., those causing Cushing’s disease); while the endoscope can provide a broader field of view, especially the angled endoscope can see the lesions that cannot be reached under direct vision. This requires a high level of proficiency.
The pituitary gland is deep in the brain, so far from the nostrils, and the bony opening is small, what tools and methods does the surgeon use to remove the tumor?
Pituitary adenomas are usually soft and can be scraped out with a long-handled spatula. In order to be able to remove a large tumor through a small hole, we can cut the tumor into small pieces and remove it in pieces. Please imagine: now there is a large tumor that we need to remove cleanly through a smaller bony opening. The surgical instruments can only reach the central part of the tumor through the bony window, and to remove the tumor satisfactorily, it is necessary to ensure that the surrounding tumor can be hollowed out to the core of the tumor and then collapse into an area that can be reached by the operator’s surgical instruments before continuing to be removed.
However, there are often giant pituitary adenomas that have growth boundaries beyond the normal growth range of the pituitary gland (pterygoid saddle) and the peripheral tumor cannot be removed intact. For example, if the tumor overgrows horizontally and protrudes into the cavernous sinus (located on both sides of the pterygoid saddle, which is the area where the veins of the head and face converge.) In this case, it is very difficult to remove the tumor completely through surgery;
However, if the tumor is overgrown upwards, i.e. the majority of the tumor is located above the pterygoid saddle, then the tumor above may “fall out” after the tumor below is removed, and thus be further removed. With this in mind, we sometimes divide the resection of a giant pituitary adenoma into two stages: first, we try to remove the pituitary adenoma “below” the septum during surgery, and then the tumor “above” the septum is dislodged by raising the intracranial pressure during surgery. The tumor “falls” into the saddle area, and then continues to be removed surgically, in some cases even in two separate surgeries.
I had a head MRI at our local hospital, and the doctor said I have a growth in my pituitary gland, does it have to be a pituitary tumor? Do I need surgery right away?
The answer is “not necessarily”. Although the most common cause of saddle area occupancy is pituitary adenoma, it may be caused by other diseases, which requires the clinical doctors to “It needs to be carefully identified by the clinicians.
No experienced physician will diagnose a disease from a single image alone, but most of all by combining the characteristics of the patient’s case and the main symptoms, which is why we ask the patient to come in person for consultation. For example, lymphocytic pituitaryitis, which is mainly seen in women of childbearing age, where the lesions are homogeneous and diffuse, and where the main symptom is urinary collapse – several times more urine per day than others – is a disease that does not require surgery.
Then there is Rathke’s Pouch Cyst, a vesicle caught in the pituitary gland during congenital development, which usually has no obvious clinical symptoms and does not affect normal life, and only needs to come to the hospital for regular review, unless individually it grows bigger and bigger and compresses the pituitary gland causing hypopituitarism and menstrual disorders in patients, then it needs to be considered Surgery will be considered. There is also a disease called “hypothyroidism secondary to pituitary hyperplasia”, which is actually a condition in which the thyroid gland under our laryngeal nodes is “too lazy to work” and the pituitary gland has to push it harder and harder, resulting in it getting bigger and bigger;
Experienced doctors will notice that the patient has weakness, constipation, dry skin, edema and other signs of hypothyroidism, and avoid misdiagnosis as “pituitary adenoma”, because in this case the surgery will not relieve the condition, but will further aggravate it! Therefore, when you are found to have pituitary lesions, you must go to a professional pituitary adenoma multidisciplinary comprehensive treatment center, and then carry out the corresponding targeted treatment after a clear diagnosis by experienced doctors; otherwise, it is likely to miss the best time for treatment, and may even aggravate the disease due to wrong treatment!
6. Do all pituitary adenomas need to be treated by surgery?
No. In addition, non-functional pituitary adenomas less than 25 px in diameter (i.e. pituitary microadenomas) can be treated without surgery first. If the non-functional microadenoma does not grow, surgery is not necessary.
It seems that the symptoms caused by pituitary disease are more complicated than appendicitis and cholecystitis, so it is indeed easy to be overlooked or missed. What symptoms in my body may be caused by pituitary adenoma? Why didn’t I see it before?
Many diseases can have similar presentations, such as cough – a cold can cough, so can tuberculosis, and failure to check sputum or lung films can lead to misdiagnosis or underdiagnosis. Pituitary adenomas are benign tumors that grow slowly and are insidious, so most patients do not feel the dramatic changes in their condition, and many are delayed if the hospital does not perform a thorough evaluation. In addition to the common endocrine abnormalities, there are other “telltale” signs and symptoms that can help avoid misdiagnosis and underdiagnosis.
1 First, because larger pituitary adenomas can cause compression of the optic cross, resulting in vision loss and visual field defects, which can easily be misdiagnosed as presbyopia, cataract, glaucoma, refractive error, and other eye diseases in elderly patients, resulting in a series of unnecessary treatments and no improvement in symptoms, which is a cause for alarm. The visual field defect caused by pituitary adenoma is mostly manifested as “bilateral temporal hemianopia”, which is a medical term meaning that both eyes are unable to see on the outer corner of the eye, and when crossing the road, you may feel that you cannot see the cars coming from the left and right sides clearly.
If the tumor growth is not completely centered, but to one side, it may cause the patient to have impaired vision in one eye. Secondly, pituitary adenoma often causes non-specific symptoms such as reduced blood sodium level, weakness, loss of appetite, nausea, etc. If the clinician does not pay close attention to the patient’s blood electrolyte level, hormone level or saddle area MRI results, the diagnosis may be missed.
For example, some patients with severe sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) may miss the diagnosis of “sleep apnea due to pituitary growth hormone adenoma” if they do not have an MRI – you must be wondering: the impression is that the pituitary gland and the respiratory tract are simply the same. You must be wondering: How can the pituitary gland be related to the respiratory tract when it’s not even close to it? In fact, this is because pituitary growth hormone adenoma will overproduce growth hormone, and growth hormone will cause hyperplasia of the throat and airway wall, resulting in poor airway, thus causing sleep snoring, apnea and other symptoms.
Obese patients with “full-moon face”, “buffalo back” and “acne” also need to be alert to the occurrence of Cushing’s disease, if they do not check hormones and rely only on dieting to lose weight, the effect is often If you do not check your hormones and rely on dieting to lose weight, the results are often poor and treatment is delayed. In short, once you have endocrine abnormalities with headache, vision loss and visual field loss, you must go to the hospital to be alert to the possibility of pituitary adenoma to avoid misdiagnosis and omission.
Eight, so many hospitals across the country have neurosurgery, our local neurosurgery seems not bad, where do I choose to do well in the end?
The success of the surgery depends on the experience of the surgeon. Operators with rich experience have higher cure rate, which means cleaner tumor removal. Besides, there are clinical studies both at home and abroad confirming that experienced operators have a lower incidence of surgical complications.
9. What are the risks of this surgery?
The main surgical risk is damage to the normal pituitary tissue. Even with experienced pituitary tumor surgeons, about 5-10% of patients still experience postoperative hypopituitarism after removal of a large pituitary adenoma. Once the damage has occurred, it cannot be repaired and may require long-term hormone replacement therapy, including thyroid hormone, corticosteroids, growth hormone, estrogen, or testosterone. We try to be “perfect,” but there are some situations that are difficult to completely avoid, especially in tumors that are difficult to operate on and that encircle the cavernous sinus and major blood vessels.
Analogous to the “surgical” precision strikes in the U.S. war on terror, even with a strong military, there will inevitably be casualties. The same is true for our surgeries, where the removal of tumors inevitably results in the loss of some normal pituitary tissue in the body. This is due to the fact that the fluid filtered by the kidneys cannot be reabsorbed and is excreted in large quantities;
The resulting urine is as clear and colorless as water, and patients experience frequent urination and irritable thirst, which can be treated with synthetic antidiuretic hormone (i.e., mydriasis) replacement therapy with good results. In most patients, pituitary function can be partially restored after the surgical trauma and inflammation subsides, and long-term drug supplementation is not required. In addition, in most patients, after most of the anterior pituitary tissue is removed, the remaining anterior pituitary tissue is still able to secrete enough hormones for normal body activities, so surgical injury does not mean that lifelong replacement therapy is required.
In conclusion, we will try to operate as delicately as possible during surgery to avoid damaging normal pituitary tissue. However, for pituitary adenomas that are difficult to operate, the risk of postoperative hypopituitarism does objectively exist, and postoperative hormone replacement therapy is required.
X. Are there any other serious surgical complications?
Yes, but most of the surgeries do not have serious complications. For some complicated surgeries, the physician will give you special instructions.
1.If the internal carotid artery on both sides of the pituitary gland is damaged, it can cause hemorrhagic shock and death, or cerebral infarction after embolization of the blood vessel. However, for an experienced surgeon, the incidence of this is very low (about 1/1000).
2. Postoperative bleeding into the residual tumor cavity or the pterygoid saddle can aggravate the compression of the optic nerve and optic cross, which may cause severe visual field defects and vision loss. This is a very rare complication and requires another surgery to remove the clot and relieve the compression symptoms.
3. Since there is only a membrane separating the pituitary tumor from the cerebrospinal fluid, there is a possibility of cerebrospinal fluid leakage after surgery. In order to repair the broken meninges and prevent intracranial infection secondary to cerebrospinal fluid leakage, a small piece of adipose tissue and fascia taken from the patient’s own body will be filled in the tumor bed during the surgery to play a role of physical reinforcement.
Nevertheless, the incidence of postoperative cerebrospinal fluid leakage is still about 1%, and for giant adenomas and craniopharyngiomas that break through the saddle and septum, the incidence of cerebrospinal fluid leakage is even higher, and when it occurs, there is a risk of infection secondary to meningitis, which may require two or even three surgeries to repair the cerebrospinal fluid leakage.
The various incidences we mentioned above are for experienced surgeons, and for inexperienced operators, the incidence of all of the above complications will be even higher.
XI. How long will this surgery last and approximately how long can I be discharged after the surgery?
The entire procedure, including anesthesia and awakening, usually lasts 3 hours. In foreign countries, patients are usually observed in the neurosurgical care unit for 2-3 hours after the operation, and then they can go down to the floor and move around without being observed in the ICU.
12.What kind of feeling will I have after surgery?
You may feel the common “sinus headache” and nasal congestion, and you may also find yourself “out of breath” and unable to smell – but these symptoms usually resolve themselves in a few weeks as you recover from surgery. These symptoms usually resolve themselves after a few weeks as you recover from surgery, so you don’t need to worry too much. If you are really unsure, you can take medications to relieve congestion, such as mint nasal drops and voltaren nasal drops, which are often effective in China. In addition, patients will generally feel fatigue after surgery, which usually will gradually ease after 2-3 weeks.
XIII. I have been recovering well after surgery and have been home from the hospital for several days, but today I suddenly felt panicky, weak and uncomfortable everywhere. I went to the community health office, but the doctor couldn’t tell me what the problem was, but I felt so uncomfortable. Doctor, what is this and what should I do?
For the patient, pituitary adenoma removal is an operation that involves only part of the body structure (head); however, for the small pituitary gland, it is a major operation that “involves the whole body”! The postoperative pituitary gland is like a “sister of the forest” recovering from a serious illness, and its physiological functions are disturbed, with fluctuations in the levels of various hormones, including a significant decrease in the secretion of the posterior pituitary (pituitary) hormone, ADH.
What does this mean? If you think about what “antidiuretic hormone” does, you may think about what it is, which is to resist diuretic factors, promote urination, and even cause diuresis if it is overproduced. After pituitary adenoma resection, the secretion of antidiuretic hormone decreases, and postoperative uremia occurs, and the body loses a lot of “sodium” along with urine;
Such as chest tightness, palpitations, nausea, dizziness, weakness of the limbs, weakness and other manifestations, causing serious interference with the normal functions of the circulation, skeletal and nervous systems of the whole body, so that patients appear to be “uncomfortable everywhere”. The most important thing to do at this time is to go to the nearest emergency hospital to have your blood electrolyte levels checked, and be sure to inform your physician of your history of pituitary surgery.
During the period of discomfort, the patient may limit the amount of water consumed and eat salty foods to supplement sodium loss. If hyponatremia is confirmed, the physician will give the patient oral hormone replacement therapy and symptomatic support therapy depending on some common causes, such as hypoadrenocorticism or inappropriate secretion of antidiuretic hormone syndrome.
Patients need to be reminded here that although postoperative hyponatremia can be relieved by symptomatic support and has a low recurrence rate, it is still important to visit a regular hospital! There are two main concerns.
1. Severe electrolyte disturbance can trigger arrhythmia and bring clinical crisis;
2, too fast an infusion of intravenous supplemental saline may cause neurological complications such as myelinolysis, leading to irreversible damage.
Therefore, the first priority of patients is to be alert to the occurrence of the above-mentioned symptoms and seek timely medical attention to avoid delaying the disease.
XIV. How long do I need to take off work and rest?
It depends on your job. On average, you can resume normal work in 2 weeks abroad, and start normal work in 1 month after surgery in China.
Doctor, do you have any requirements for my diet before and after surgery? I have had diabetes/hypertension for more than 10 years, is there anything I should pay special attention to? What should I do to control my diet?
It’s great to have this in mind! Your physical condition has a great impact on the outcome of your surgery, and maintaining stable blood glucose and blood pressure levels is essential for a smooth surgical procedure. This is because patients with pituitary adenoma combined with hypertension have a significantly higher risk of intraoperative stroke and heart failure than ordinary patients, and nasal bleeding during surgery can increase significantly and affect the surgical field. Therefore, tighter blood pressure control is needed in the perioperative period, with a goal of 140/90 mmHg or less in general patients and 130/80 mmHg or less in diabetic patients.
Patients with Cushing’s syndrome and acromegaly have very difficult blood pressure and blood glucose control. We will ask the endocrinology department to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of your disease, which also requires you to cooperate with the treatment in all aspects, otherwise the surgery needs to be postponed. Some patients only use oral hypoglycemic drugs to control blood glucose before surgery, but insulin is required to control blood glucose in the perioperative period, which will not make you permanently dependent on insulin, so please do not worry. Patients with pituitary adenoma combined with diabetes and hypertension are a high-risk group that requires focused care for anesthesia and surgery, and we will work together to protect you.
Therefore, in the days before and after surgery, please make sure you follow your doctor’s instructions.
1 If you have hypertension, please make sure to maintain a low-salt, low-fat diet and reduce the intake of fatty and cholesterol-based foods (no pickled foods, fatty meats, egg yolks, instant noodles, etc.), as well as avoiding alcohol. After surgery, you can eat potassium-rich fruits and vegetables such as oranges and pumpkin to help replenish electrolytes, and vitamin-rich foods to help with wound healing (vitamin C is needed!) and nerve function recovery;
2 If you are diabetic, you should follow the diabetic recipe strictly, follow your doctor’s recommendations for blood sugar control during the period before and after surgery, and get off the floor as early as possible with your doctor’s permission.
You may think that post-operative patients should be “bed-ridden”, but this is not a good idea. Patients should be encouraged to move around as soon as their wounds and physical condition allow (be sure to consult your doctor on this point!) As early as possible to move to the ground, because long-term bed rest can lead to diabetic patients or elderly patients to cause lower extremity venous thrombosis.
Sixteen, after the surgery, am I completely well and do not need to come back to the hospital?
In fact, the successful completion of the surgery is only the first step of our long journey, and the regular review after the surgery is also a very important part. We work together with all the doctors, nurses, patients and families to get rid of the common enemy of pituitary tumor. However, as the saying goes, “it is easy to fight but difficult to defend”, we need to be aware of when it will come back, which reminds us of the importance of regular review.
Generally speaking, we recommend that you come to the clinic for review one month, three months and six months after surgery. There are two main areas of review: blood sampling and pituitary enhancement MRI. Blood sampling is mainly to check the levels of various hormones and electrolytes in our blood. Abnormalities in them can indicate the possibility of hypofunction or recurrence and need to be dealt with in time; MRI can help us to determine whether there is residual tumor or the possibility of re-growth. During the initial review, the doctor will also communicate with the patient about the next treatment plan and program according to the surgical resection, especially some giant adenomas need further radiotherapy and chemotherapy after surgery, so it is recommended for the patient to come to the review in person, the idea that you don’t need to worry after the surgery is wrong. Once we find any signs of tumor recurrence during the review, we can make early intervention or treatment to nip the enemy in the bud! Of course, after 3 consecutive reviews, if the condition is stable, you only need to come to the hospital for outpatient review once a year in the future. But always remember: the “enemy” may come back at any time, regular review, alarm bells ringing!
XVII. If I choose surgery to treat pituitary tumor, what are the chances that I will be cured after surgery?
It depends on the type, size and location of the tumor as well as the experience of the surgeon in charge.
For an experienced surgeon, the surgical cure rate for patients with Cushing’s disease (generally microadenomas) is generally around 90%; patients with acromegaly (generally huge, more aggressive tumors) are often difficult to cure through surgery, and even if the highest level of physician performs the surgery, the post-operative glucose growth hormone inhibition test for giant adenomas of the pituitary gland that secrete growth hormone can achieve normal inhibition Only about 60% of these tumors are normally suppressed. This is similar for non-functional pituitary macroadenomas.
Whether a giant pituitary adenoma can be completely resected depends on whether it has invaded the cavernous sinus or the bones of the skull base. If these “minefields” have not yet been invaded, there is a greater chance of surgical cure; if they have invaded “blind spots” or relatively dangerous “minefields” that cannot be reached by surgery, then If the surgery has reached a “blind spot” or a relatively dangerous “minefield”, then the surgery cannot cure it completely. You may ask: If surgery is not curable in these cases, why do neurosurgeons still recommend that you have a giant pituitary adenoma removed?
This is because the continued growth of a giant pituitary adenoma can cause compression of the surrounding important structures (occupancy effect) and even permanent neurological dysfunction. At the same time, after surgery to remove the large part of the tumor, postoperative radiotherapy can also reduce the target range and radiation dose, bringing less side damage.
18. After the surgery, how can we know whether the tumor is cleanly cut? Will there be any residue?
For functional pituitary adenomas (Cushing’s disease, acromegaly and lactinoma), the blood and urine hormone test results a few days and weeks after surgery can give us the answer.
For non-functional tumors, MRI of the saddle area can help us verify the removal of the tumor. Because the surgeon can only operate from the center of the tumor, it is sometimes difficult for the surgeon to determine the boundaries and size of the residual tumor during traditional surgery. However, the application of intraoperative MRI equipment and intraoperative navigation technology has brought us a new light, and we can observe whether the tumor has been removed cleanly by MRI before closing the surgical incision and clarify the site of residual lesion under navigation.
However, for huge pituitary adenomas invading the cavernous sinus region, even with the aid of intraoperative MRI, it is difficult to achieve complete resection (see question 4 for specific reasons). To avoid serious complications, we often have to perform palliative resection (partial resection) and then usually review MRI at 6 weeks postoperatively to help us decide whether further surgery or radiotherapy is needed.
What should I do if I find any tumor residue after resection surgery? Do I have to undergo radiotherapy? I heard that there are a lot of side effects and I am worried!
If there is still a significant volume of non-functional pituitary adenoma left after transsphenoidal approach, radiotherapy can be used to stop the further growth of the residual tumor.
If only a very small amount of residual tumor is found after surgery, the lesion usually does not change significantly for several years and you can have regular reviews with regular MRI of the saddle area. If the residual lesion remains unchanged, there is no need to worry and regular review can be continued.
For residual tumors after resection of functional pituitary adenomas such as acromegaly, Cushing’s disease or prolactinoma, the hormonal overproduction in the patient’s body can be controlled by medication. Under the professional guidance of endocrinologists, individualized pharmacotherapy can be an adjunct or even an alternative to radiotherapy.
Doctor, I have been diagnosed with pituitary tumor, will my child get pituitary tumor?
The occurrence and development of tumors are related to both genetic factors and external environmental factors (e.g. chemicals, radiation), but the vast majority of patients are epidemic with no specific factors, and there are only a very few family lines that are susceptible to pituitary adenomas. If you do not have a family history of this condition, the probability that it will be inherited is extremely low. In research, some specific genes have been observed in patients with pituitary adenomas, but carrying these genes does not necessarily mean that you will develop pituitar