The dangers of pituitary tumors that you must not ignore

  Pituitary tumors are a group of tumors that occur from the anterior and posterior lobes of the pituitary gland and the remnant cells of the craniopharyngeal duct epithelium and account for approximately 10% of intracranial tumors.  As the level of pituitary tumor detection continues to improve, the number of patients being detected increases year by year.  At present, there is a lack of survey information on the epidemiology of pituitary tumors in China. According to the survey in the United States, the incidence of pituitary tumors is 10-15/100,000. In a group of foreign studies, a random sample of 100 normal people were selected for pituitary MRI, and the detection rate of pituitary tumor was 16%. In other words, the incidence of pituitary tumors is very high, only that most patients do not show clinical symptoms.  Pituitary tumors can be classified by function into two major categories, secretory pituitary tumors and nonfunctional pituitary tumors, with the former accounting for about 65%-80% of pituitary tumors.  Loss of vision, amenorrhea, loss of libido – remember to check the pituitary gland The clinical manifestations of pituitary tumors vary widely. For example, prolactin-secreting pituitary tumors are more common in women and typically manifest as amenorrhea, overflow of breast milk, and infertility, while in men, they manifest as hypogonadism, impotence, breast development, and infertility. Growth hormone-secreting pituitary tumors tend to present as gigantism in immature patients and as acromegaly in adults. Adrenocorticotropic hormone-secreting pituitary tumors are characterized by centripetal obesity, full-moon face, buffalo back, purple skin lines, and increased fine hair.  Large pituitary tumors that compress surrounding structures can cause headaches, loss of vision, and visual field defects. In case of intra-pituitary hemorrhage, there will be severe headache, nausea and vomiting, and even blindness, often accompanied by extraocular muscle paralysis, blurred consciousness, disorientation, neck straightening and even sudden coma, which should be treated by emergency surgery.