1.Q: What is pituitary tumor pituitary tumor?
A: Pituitary adenoma is a benign tumor consisting of cells in the anterior pituitary gland.
2.Q: Why do pituitary tumors occur?
A: This problem, including our scientists around the world are studying, can be explained by a monoclonal cell gene variation, abnormal proliferation. The real pathogenesis of pituitary tumor has not been found yet.
3.Q: Is the incidence of pituitary tumor high?
A: The result of large-scale statistics is that one out of 100,000 people develop pituitary tumor every year, if you have a pituitary tumor, congratulations on winning the lottery. But don’t be afraid to have a pituitary tumor, after all, it is a benign disease, there are ways to cure it.
4.Q: Can pituitary tumors be inherited?
A: No definite evidence has been found that pituitary tumors are hereditary, so even if you have a pituitary tumor, you can rest assured that it will not be passed on to the next generation. If someone finds a familial pituitary tumor, please let us know immediately.
5.Q: What are the symptoms of pituitary tumor?
A: To answer this question, we must first know the classification of pituitary tumors: pituitary tumors can be classified according to the type of hormone secreted.
(1) Lactogenic pituitary tumors: men show a decreased libido, women show irregular menstruation or even amenorrhea, and overflow of milk (milk production).
Growth hormone pituitary tumors: The main manifestations are gigantism, facial changes, enlarged hands and feet (increased shoe size), and increased blood sugar.
(2) ACTH-type pituitary tumor: The main manifestations are obesity, full-moon face, hirsutism, and purple lines (purple-red skin lines on the body).
(3) Hormone-free adenoma: No hormone secretion, vision loss, visual field defects and headache caused by tumor enlargement.
(4) There are other pituitary tumors of FSH, LH and TSH type, which are rare. In addition to their respective symptoms, common manifestations include polyhydramnios (thirst and urination), headache, dizziness, significant loss of vision, and visual field defects (difficulty seeing on both sides). In case of pituitary tumor stroke (tumor bleeding) there can also be severe headache, nausea, vomiting, and even blindness.
6.Q: How to check out pituitary tumor?
A: Generally, CT and MRI are needed to detect pituitary tumor. It is recommended to go to a big hospital to take the film, because the examination machine of big hospital is better and the film is clearer.
7.Q: What should I do if I find pituitary tumor? Should I take medicine or open surgery?
A: At present, the treatment of pituitary tumors is still mainly surgery, supplemented by drug therapy, radiation therapy, gamma knife. The main drugs are bromocriptolide and sinequan, etc.
8.Q: I have irregular menstruation and overflowing breast, but the MRI film said there is no pituitary tumor, so what is going on?
A: Some female patients have symptoms of amenorrhea and overflow of breast milk, blood test shows increased prolactin, but MRI does not find pituitary tumor, which is called: hyperprolactinemia, these patients need internal medicine treatment, no need to open surgery.
9.Q: I took an MRI and the report said that the pituitary gland is hyperplastic, what is the matter?
A: Pituitary gland hyperplasia is due to changes in the human endocrine environment, such as puberty, pregnancy, etc. stimulate the growth of pituitary glands, is generally not very large, do not need to open surgery.
10.Q: Is there any risk for pituitary tumor to be operated?
A: Pituitary tumor is located in the saddle area and surrounded by important nerve structures such as optic nerve, internal carotid artery and hypothalamus, so there is still some risk in the surgery. Of course, each pituitary tumor patient’s risk varies. Generally the larger the growth, the more difficult it is. Therefore, to open surgery or to find a large hospital, looking for experts.
11.Q: Gamma knife is effective for pituitary tumor?
A: Gamma knife can not be used for relatively large (more than one centimeter), cystic, close to the optic nerve pituitary tumor, so the main role in less than one centimeter, substantial small pituitary tumor, or as an adjuvant treatment after surgery. Huashan Hospital Neurosurgery Gamma Knife Treatment Center was established in 1993, is the earliest and largest Gamma Knife treatment center in China.
12.Q: I heard that many people have urinary collapse after pituitary tumor surgery. What other complications can occur?
A: Pituitary tumor surgery more or less always affects the posterior pituitary lobe, which will easily cause the posterior pituitary gland after surgery to secrete insufficient hormone, and one of the functions of the posterior pituitary gland hormone is to control the volume of urine, so it can lead to increased urine volume and even urinary collapse. The majority of patients can be cured by drinking more water and using medications such as posterior pituitary hormone and Mirex. As for other complications, such as hypothalamic reaction, optic nerve damage, cerebrospinal fluid leakage, etc., the doctor will explain to the patient’s family before the surgery.
13.Q: Will pituitary tumor recur after surgery?
A: First of all, pituitary tumor is a benign tumor, but it has a certain recurrence rate, which is about ten percent. It is mainly related to the characteristics of the tumor itself. For general pituitary tumors, as long as the surgery is clean, the recurrence rate is very small; however, for some aggressive pituitary tumors, recurrence is very easy. As for which pituitary tumors are aggressive, the MRI and pathology report can help doctors identify them. Therefore, we usually let patients review the films three days, one month, three months, six months and one year after surgery to observe the dynamic changes of the operated area and evaluate the efficacy of the surgery.
14.Q: Should I do radiotherapy after pituitary tumor surgery?
A: The previous view was to do radiotherapy after surgery, which resulted in many patients with low pituitary function and poor quality of life. Now we think: general pituitary tumor, as long as the surgery is clean, do not need radiotherapy, only some invasive pituitary tumor, there are residual or recurrence after surgery, radiotherapy or gamma knife treatment.
15.Why should I take prednisone before and after pituitary tumor surgery? Why do you try not to take bromelain before surgery?
A: Pituitary tumor surgery tends to affect the secretion of cortisol hormone, so the hormone (prednisone) should be supplemented before and after surgery. We usually take 5mg tid of prednisone after surgery, and change it to 5mg bid after two weeks, and slowly reduce the amount of hormone. Bromocriptan is likely to cause the pituitary tumor to become hard, which is not very good to be removed during surgery, so try to stop using bromocriptan before the surgery.
16.What is Rathke′s cyst? What is the difference between it and pituitary tumor?
A: Rathke′s cyst is a relatively rare congenital cyst in the saddle area. It can be easily confused with a cystic pituitary tumor. Rathke′s cyst is a benign cyst that can also cause endocrine symptoms and should be operated on. It has an excellent surgical outcome, a better prognosis than pituitary tumors, and does not recur.