Treatment of pituitary adenoma is mainly surgical, supplemented by radiotherapy and medication: The purpose of surgery is to remove the tumor and restore normal endocrine physiology. For patients with severely impaired endocrine function surgery can protect the residual pituitary function as much as possible and lay a good foundation for hormone replacement therapy after surgery. Surgery is the first choice for tumors other than prolactin adenomas.
Radiotherapy is only indicated for patients with postoperative residual or advanced age and physical inability to tolerate surgery.
For drug treatment, only bromocriptine and cabergoline have proven to be effective for pituitary prolactin adenoma, but the disadvantage is that they need to be taken for life and some patients cannot accept their side effects. Therefore, surgery is also a good option for the above patients. Our experience shows that the percentage of pituitary infertility caused by surgery is very low and mostly related to the experience of the operator. There is no specific drug treatment for other types of pituitary.
The majority of pituitary adenomas can be removed by transnasal-pituitary sinus approach, which is safe, fast recovery and has no effect on appearance.