How to detect pituitary tumors as early as possible What are the symptoms of pituitary tumors?

Pituitary tumors are benign brain tumors and are relatively common. How can we detect and treat them early? Let me introduce them to you in detail. The pituitary gland is an important endocrine organ, which contains several types of endocrine cells and secretes a variety of endocrine hormones. If an endocrine cell grows an adenoma, special clinical manifestations may occur.

1. Endocrine manifestations of different types of pituitary adenomas:

(1) Growth hormone cell adenoma: The early tumor is only a few millimeters in size and mainly manifests as excessive secretion of growth hormone.

(2) Prolactin cell adenoma: The main symptoms are amenorrhea, galactorrhea, infertility, and in severe cases, loss of armpit hair, pale and delicate skin, increased subcutaneous fat, fatigue, easy fatigue, lethargy, headache, sexual dysfunction, etc. In men, symptoms include decreased libido, impotence, breast hyperplasia, sparse beard, and in severe cases, atrophy of reproductive organs, decreased sperm count, infertility, etc. There are not many cases of male to female changes.

(3) ACTH cell adenoma: Clinical manifestations include centripetal obesity, moon face, buffalo hump, sanguineous constitution, purple lines on the skin of the abdomen and thighs, increased vellus hair, etc. In severe cases, patients may suffer from amenorrhea, loss of libido, general fatigue, and even be bedridden. Some patients also have hypertension, diabetes, etc.

(4) Thyroid stimulating hormone cell tumor: rare, due to excessive secretion of thyroid stimulating hormone from the pituitary gland, it causes hyperthyroidism symptoms, which disappear after the pituitary tumor is removed. In addition, the feedback of hypothyroidism causes focal hyperplasia of the pituitary gland, which gradually develops into a pituitary adenoma. When it grows larger, it can also cause symptoms of enlarged sella turcica and compression of nearby tissues.

(5) Follicle-stimulating hormone cell adenoma: It is very rare, with only a few reports of clinical symptoms such as sexual dysfunction, amenorrhea, infertility, and decreased sperm count.

(6) Melanin-stimulating hormone cell adenoma: It is very rare, with only a few reports of patients with skin darkening without increased cortisol.

(7) Endocrine inactive adenoma: Patients may not feel any special sensation in the early stage, but as the tumor grows, it may compress the pituitary gland and cause clinical manifestations of pituitary insufficiency.

2. Visual field impairment: Early pituitary adenomas often do not cause visual field impairment. If the tumor grows, stretches upward, and compresses the optic chiasm, visual field defects will occur. The upper outer quadrant will be affected first, and the red field of vision will be the first to show. Later, as the lesion grows larger and the compression becomes more severe, the white field of vision will also be affected, and the defect can gradually expand to bilateral temporal hemianopsia. If not treated in time, the visual field defect can expand further, and vision will also decline, leading to total blindness. Because pituitary tumors are mostly benign, the initial lesions can last for a considerable period of time. When the condition is serious, visual field impairment can suddenly increase. If the tumor is biased to one side, it can cause monocular hemianopsia or blindness.

3. Other neurological symptoms and signs: If the pituitary tumor grows posteriorly and upwards and compresses the pituitary stalk or hypothalamus, it may cause polydipsia and polyuria; if the tumor grows laterally and invades the cavernous sinus wall, paralysis of the oculomotor nerve or abducens nerve may occur; if the tumor passes through the septum sellae and then grows upwards to the ventral part of the frontal lobe, mental symptoms may sometimes occur; if the tumor grows posteriorly and upwards and blocks the anterior part of the third ventricle and the interventricular foramen, symptoms of increased intracranial pressure such as headache and vomiting may occur; if the tumor grows posteriorly, it may compress the brainstem and cause coma, paralysis, or decerebrate rigidity.