What to do about headaches after pituitary tumor surgery

When headaches occur after pituitary tumor surgery, the cause must first be identified. This is because postoperative pituitary tumor pain can be caused by conditions such as intracranial hemorrhage, cerebral edema, and intracranial infection that occur after surgery. Therefore, if a headache occurs, the head CT needs to be routinely reviewed for any rebleeding. Also, a specimen of cerebrospinal fluid needs to be retained for examination to rule out any intracranial infection. If the headache is caused by bleeding and the amount of bleeding is small, it can be treated conservatively, such as using dehydrating and cranial pressure lowering drugs, and the pain may be gradually relieved. If the bleeding is large, another surgery to remove the hematoma may need to be considered. If the headache is caused by bloody cerebrospinal fluid irritation, lumbar puncture can be performed appropriately to release the bloody cerebrospinal fluid and the pain will be relieved, and some oral pain medications can be taken. If the headache is caused by an intracranial infection, anti-infective treatment and lumbar puncture to release the cerebrospinal fluid continuously to drain the infected cerebrospinal fluid are required.