Indications: Reports in the literature demonstrate that Gamma Knife treatment of pituitary tumors can achieve satisfactory therapeutic results, both as a primary and adjuvant treatment modality. Adolescent patients who have not yet had children, patients with large pituitary tumors, and patients with pituitary adenomas that are too close to the visual cross-sectional distance are not well suited for gamma knife treatment. For the following patient population is very suitable for gamma knife treatment.
1, cavernous sinus or skull base invaded pituitary tumor, postoperative residual recurrence or preferred treatment.
2, drug treatment is ineffective, can not tolerate the side effects of drug treatment or do not want to operate patients with pituitary microadenoma.
3.Pituitary adenoma with postoperative residual or recurrence; (pituitary macroadenoma with optic bundle and optic cross spacing >3- 5mm).
4.Patients with pituitary tumors that cannot tolerate surgery due to old age or concomitant medical diseases (such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease or coagulation disorders, etc.).
Gamma knife treatment of pituitary tumor and surgery for pituitary tumor differences: 1, gamma knife treatment of pituitary tumor is minimally invasive treatment, does not require general anesthesia, no incision, no bleeding and no infection and other advantages, while surgical treatment requires an incision or even craniotomy, high surgical risk, the patient’s pain is much greater than gamma knife treatment.
2, gamma knife treatment time is short, the process only takes about 2 hours, surgery treatment time depends on the patient’s condition, and after treatment to hospitalization, hospitalization time is generally about a week.
3, gamma knife treatment cost is low, although the cost varies slightly depending on the choice of hospital, doctor and the patient’s situation, but basically in about 20,000 yuan, much lower than the cost of surgery for pituitary tumors.
4, gamma knife treatment pituitary tumor precise and effective, gamma knife belongs to the advanced medical instruments, gamma knife radiation accuracy error can be controlled to 0.3mm, and combined with CT, MRI for precise positioning of pituitary tumor. The effect of surgical treatment is mostly linked to the experience and technology of the doctor, if the doctor makes a mistake, then the impact on the patient is huge.
Side effects: For gamma knife treatment of pituitary tumors, the complications are much lower than other treatment modalities such as surgery, the common complications are mainly headache, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, pallor, sweating, etc., the incidence is 4-12.6%; radiation reactions are reversible, the disappearance rate is 100%, and the disappearance time is usually within 24 hours. What needs to be focused on and dealt with are the distant complications, mainly including damage to the optic pathway, brain nerves in the cavernous sinus, hypothalamus and hypopituitarism, with an incidence of 0-12.6% reported in the literature.