Why is it important to have regular post-operative follow-ups?

  The review after pituitary tumor surgery mainly has the following purposes: 1. Whether the tumor recurs: Most patients’ tumor will not recur after complete resection, but there are still individual cases of tumor regrowth, and the growth site is usually in the original tumor site. Generally, the tumor will be reviewed 1-2 times in the first year after surgery. If there are no clinical symptoms and imaging abnormalities, the number of reviews will be gradually reduced.  2. Whether the tumor grows again: Strictly speaking, the definition of tumor recurrence and tumor regrowth are different, the former means the tumor has been completely removed by surgery, and then the similar tumor grows in the skull; the latter means the tumor has been partially removed by surgery, but a part of it still remains in the skull, and then the residual tumor grows again. In this case, the number of review is more than the former one, because the condition varies, the number of review and interval time depends on the specific situation, and the review should be timely when the clinical discomfort symptoms appear or the original symptoms aggravate. After the review timely detection of problems, to give timely treatment.  3.Understand the patient’s physical condition: Some pituitary tumors show many functional and organ changes after surgery, such as high blood sugar, high blood pressure, endocrine dysfunction, infertility and heart failure before surgery, what is the recovery after surgery? Do you still need to give hypoglycemic and hypotensive treatment? Whether the infertility problem is related to other diseases, whether the endocrine disorder requires hormone replacement therapy, and a series of other issues need to be addressed only after the review. Some problems are easier to solve, such as infertility, and may be able to have children after taking several medications, but some patients do not pay attention to the review and delay the chance of treatment. In conclusion, the review can further determine the effect of surgery, identify problems and deal with them in time, which is an important guideline for the future health of pituitary tumor patients.