What are the methods for treating pituitary tumors without craniotomy? There are two types of treatment without craniotomy

Once a patient is confirmed to have a pituitary tumor, treatment should be started as soon as possible. The treatment of pituitary tumors can be divided into surgical treatment and medical treatment. Surgical treatment is the most likely first choice for curing pituitary tumors, which provides patients with the hope of a complete cure of the disease.

Transsphenoidal approach without craniotomy for pituitary tumors

Surgical methods are generally divided into two categories, craniotomy and transsphenoidal approach. Transsphenoidal surgery is a treatment method that does not involve craniotomy. It uses the nasal passage and the sphenoid sinus to directly reach the pituitary tumor. Compared with craniotomy, it has the advantages of better tumor exposure, less trauma and risk, no damage to the craniofacial appearance, good efficacy, and high cure rate. Pituitary adenomas suitable for transsphenoidal surgery include: 1. Pituitary microadenomas (diameter <1 cm); 2. Adenomas that invade the sphenoid sinus; 3. Pituitary adenomas that extend above the sella turcica but not to the sella turcica.

Medical treatment usually starts with drug treatment. There have been many years of clinical application experience in taking dopamine agonist drugs. Among them, bromocriptine is the most commonly used drug. This drug can effectively control the symptoms of prolactin adenoma in most patients and has a certain effect on other types of adenomas. Drug treatment has its disadvantages. It only treats the symptoms but not the root cause. Once the drug is stopped, it will relapse. From a surgical point of view, the use of this drug will cause the tumor to shrink and make the texture tough and hard, increasing the difficulty of future surgical treatment.

For the treatment of pituitary tumors, radiotherapy can also be selected according to the condition of the disease.