Pituitary tumors and how they are treated?

  Pituitary adenoma is a benign tumor of the pituitary gland with an incidence of 1 in 100,000 in the population, but the incidence has been increasing in recent years. Pituitary adenomas not only cause intracranial occupational signs, but also produce endocrine disorders such as infertility, hypogonadism, facial and limb changes. In serious cases, pituitary adenoma destabilizes the internal environment and even affects the external image of a social being.  The comprehensive treatment for pituitary adenoma includes surgery, general radiotherapy, r-knife stereotactic therapy, and drug therapy, while surgery includes open and transsphenoidal surgery, which can be subdivided into pterygoid point approach, inferior frontal approach, longitudinal approach, transcallosal approach, inferior frontal transsphenoidal approach, modified pterygoid point approach, etc. Transsphenoidal surgery can also be subdivided into transoral nasal butterfly microsurgery, single nostril transsphenoidal microsurgery, and endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery. The transsphenoidal surgery can also be subdivided into transoral nasopelvic microsurgery, single nostril transsphenoidal microsurgery and endoscopic transsphenoidal surgery.  The main basis for the correct selection of the above treatment methods or comprehensive treatment is: 1. the correct diagnosis of pituitary tumor or related lesions. 2.  2.The size and shape of pituitary tumor, the degree of invasion to the surrounding tissues, and the treatment process, etc.  3.judgment of the softness of pituitary tumor through imaging, tumor type, medical history, etc.  4.The patient’s age, physical condition and whether he/she wants to have children or not.  5.What is the patient’s hormone level, whether there are systemic comorbidities and nasal lesions, etc.  In conclusion, it is particularly important to select the appropriate treatment plan for the patient based on the above criteria and to provide systematic individualized treatment. For example, some patients can be treated with drug therapy alone or with a combination of radiotherapy and drug therapy; some patients can be followed up and observed regularly. Most patients need to undergo surgery with definite results and decide whether to undergo radiotherapy according to the extent of surgical resection; some patients need to undergo radiotherapy or drug therapy followed by surgery, which is discussed from person to person.