Are there risks in pituitary tumor surgery? Pituitary tumor surgery is inevitably dangerous

All surgeries have certain risks, and pituitary tumor surgery is no exception. One of the main risks of surgery is pituitary function damage.

Damage is inevitable, hormones can replace

Analogous to the "surgical" precision strikes in the US war on terror, even with strong military strength, casualties are inevitable. Similarly, doctors will try their best to be "perfect" when performing pituitary tumor surgery, but in some cases it is difficult to completely avoid the loss of some normal pituitary tissue, especially when the surgery is difficult and tumors surrounding the cavernous sinus and major blood vessels are removed. Even for experienced pituitary tumor surgery experts, about 5-10% of patients still experience postoperative hypopituitarism after removing giant pituitary adenomas.

Usually once the damage occurs, it cannot be repaired, and some patients may need long-term hormone replacement therapy, including thyroid hormone, corticosteroids, growth hormone, estrogen or testosterone.

Function can be partially restored, and lifelong replacement therapy is not required

After surgery, the patient will have a pituitary "injury" reaction. For example, damage to the posterior pituitary can cause diabetes insipidus (the incidence rate is between 1-2%). This is because the body fluid filtered by the kidneys cannot be reabsorbed and is excreted from the body in large quantities. The urine produced by the patient is colorless and transparent like water, and frequent urination and thirst will also occur. These symptoms can be replaced by artificially synthesized antidiuretic hormone (i.e., miconazole), with good results.

In most patients, pituitary function can be partially restored after surgical trauma and inflammation subside, without the need for long-term medication. In addition, in most patients, after most of the anterior pituitary tissue is removed, the remaining anterior pituitary tissue can still secrete enough hormones for normal human activities, so surgical damage does not mean that lifelong replacement therapy is required.

In short, with the popularization and improvement of microsurgical techniques, the proportion of pituitary function damage caused by surgery is becoming less and less, and the degree is becoming less and less severe. The pituitary function of most patients can be gradually restored after surgery, and there is no need to take lifelong medication.