What are the treatment methods for pituitary tumors? There are 3 common treatment methods

Pituitary tumor is a type of brain tumor with a relatively high incidence rate. After the disease occurs, it can be treated with medication or surgery, including transsphenoidal approach and craniotomy; radiotherapy can be continued after surgery.

Pituitary tumor is a common intracranial tumor with a relatively high incidence rate. The disease causes great harm to the patient's health. If it is not treated in time, it may cause other complications. If you want to achieve good treatment results, you must master the correct method. So what are the treatment methods for pituitary tumors?

1. Drug treatment of pituitary tumors

Drug treatment is suitable for patients with relatively small tumors that do not affect vision and visual field. For example, oral bromocriptine can inhibit the growth of pituitary tumors and is the best treatment for prolactin pituitary tumors, but it cannot achieve political goals. Moreover, drug treatment is only effective for some patients. After stopping the drug, symptoms are likely to recur and the tumor will continue to grow.

2. Surgical treatment of pituitary tumors

1. Transsphenoidal approach

Transsphenoidal approach is a commonly used surgical treatment for pituitary tumors, which mainly includes microscopic transsphenoidal approach, endoscopic transsphenoidal approach and microscopic combined endoscopic transsphenoidal approach. The indications of this surgical method are tumors protruding into the sphenoid sinus and confined to the sella turcica, as well as tumors growing vertically above the sella turcica. It takes a relatively short time to treat pituitary tumors, and the recovery is also relatively fast. The most important thing is that it is not easy to leave obvious marks, which is a relatively ideal surgical treatment method.

2. Craniotomy

Craniotomy to remove pituitary tumors is a relatively traditional surgical treatment method. This type of surgery will fully expose the area and has a larger operating space, but it will cause relatively large trauma and the recovery is relatively slow. Different degrees of pituitary dysfunction may occur after the operation. It is generally used to treat more complex and difficult pituitary tumors.

3. Radiotherapy for pituitary tumors

Pituitary tumors can also be treated with conventional radiotherapy, such as high-energy ion irradiation, linear accelerator therapy, etc. These radiotherapy methods have different effects in shrinking tumors and reducing hormone secretion. However, after radiotherapy, the function of the pituitary gland will be reduced, and optic neuritis and vision loss may occur, brain function will atrophy, and cognitive function will also decline.