The incidence of pituitary tumors is not low, but most people have no obvious clinical symptoms. Pituitary tumors are tumors that occur in the pituitary gland, often also known as pituitary adenomas, and are one of the common neuroendocrine tumors, accounting for approximately 10-15% of central nervous system tumors. The vast majority of pituitary adenomas are benign tumors. How much do you know about pituitary tumors? Classification of pituitary tumors: Pituitary tumors can be classified according to the size of the tumor and the different functions of hormone secretion. According to the size of tumor, pituitary tumor is divided into pituitary microadenoma (tumor diameter is less than 1cm) and pituitary adenoma (tumor diameter is greater than or equal to 1cm). According to the different secretion of hormones, they can be further classified into hormone-secreting pituitary tumors and non-functional adenomas. The size of pituitary tumor is closely related to the prognosis of treatment. Approximately 70% or more of non-functioning pituitary tumors do not require treatment and can be clinically followed for a long time if there is no corresponding hypopituitarism. If the corresponding clinical symptoms appear during the follow-up, the tumor grows faster and compresses the surrounding tissues (e.g., visual field defects), surgery may be considered. Four types of hormone-secreting pituitary tumors: Hormone-secreting tumors are the most complex type of pituitary tumors in terms of clinical manifestations, diverse treatment options, and different clinical prognosis regression. According to the different types of hormone secretion, hormone-secreting pituitary tumors can be divided into the following types: 1. Prolactin-secreting pituitary tumors. Most female patients mainly present with amenorrhea, lactation and infertility. Male patients mainly present with male hypogonadism, such as decreased libido, impotence and infertility. 2. Growth hormone-secreting pituitary tumors. The main manifestations are gigantism (occurring in adolescent patients with unclosed epiphyses), facial changes, enlarged hands and feet (increased shoe size), excessive sweating, bone and joint lesions, carpal tunnel syndrome, swelling of the soft tissues and joints of the fingers (toes) of the hands and feet, increased blood pressure, increased blood sugar, coronary heart disease, and tumors of the thyroid gland and colon, etc. 3.Adrenocorticotropin-secreting pituitary tumor. The main manifestations are centripetal obesity, full-moon face, acne, hirsutism, and purple lines (purple-red skin lines on the body). 4.Thyroid hormone-secreting pituitary tumor. Mainly manifested as symptoms of hypermetabolism such as fear of heat, excessive sweating, weight loss, panic and atrial fibrillation. 5.Other types of pituitary tumors are FSH and LH, which mainly manifest clinically as menstrual disorders and infertility in women and hypogonadism and infertility in men. Hormone-secreting tumors can occur alone or be mixed tumors with increased secretion of two or more hormones, and the clinical manifestations also have corresponding mixed symptoms. The four main types of clinical symptoms of pituitary tumors are as follows: 1. Clinical manifestations caused by increased hormone secretion. 2.Clinical manifestations of pituitary tumor caused by compression of surrounding cell tissues with reduced secretion of corresponding hormones: for example, hypoadrenocorticism can manifest as decreased appetite, weakness, emaciation, hypotension, hypoglycemia, easy to catch cold, etc.; hypothyroidism can manifest as fear of cold, decreased appetite, rough skin, hair loss, constipation, etc. In children, it can manifest as dementia, growth retardation, etc.; hypogonadism can manifest as Hypogonadism can be manifested as infertility in men and women, decreased libido, menstrual disorders or even amenorrhea in women, impotence in men, etc. In children, it can be manifested as short stature, and in adults, it can be manifested as concentration of body fat in the abdomen, muscle relaxation and atrophy, aging, decreased self-awareness, osteoporosis, decreased resistance, low sexual function, etc. 3.Symptoms of pressure on surrounding structures: if the tumor grows to the saddle and presses on the visual cross, it will manifest as vision loss, visual field defect, etc. Clinically, patients usually complain of frequent bruises, etc. If the tumor invades the cavernous sinus of the neurovascular plexus around the pituitary gland, it will show symptoms of nerve pressure, such as ptosis, pupil enlargement and other clinical manifestations. 4.Pituitary stroke: In the process of tumor growth, due to poor vascular supply or abnormal growth of tumor blood vessels, under certain inducements, tumor bleeding and necrosis of tumor tissue will occur. If the tumor is completely bleeding and necrosis, the tumor envelope will rupture, there will be severe headache, nausea and vomiting or even blindness and coma, which needs emergency surgical treatment. Most strokes of pituitary tumors present as incomplete or partial pituitary strokes, which can be mild headache, nausea and vomiting with general discomfort and do not require special treatment. Patients’ symptoms will resolve on their own within a few weeks, and some hormone-secreting tumors have reduced clinical symptoms.