How to improve the survival rate of pituitary tumors

Pituitary tumors are very painful for patients. They worry about their own bodies. The treatment process is very difficult, and the higher medical expenses make you breathless. We must have an optimistic attitude in the face of the disease. Let us learn together how to improve the survival rate of pituitary tumors.

Pituitary tumors are relatively common among intracranial tumors, and they often occur in adolescence. The clinical manifestations include abnormal hormone secretion. When the hormone secretion is excessive, the patient will develop gigantism or acromegaly. When the hormone secretion is too little, women may experience amenorrhea and men may experience sexual dysfunction. So, how can we reduce the chance of pituitary tumors in our daily life? Director Qu Yan of the Department of Neurosurgery at Tangdu Hospital of the Fourth Military Medical University is here to tell you some methods, hoping to help you. Pituitary tumors are benign tumors and will not affect life. They can be treated surgically in the early stages.

It is recommended that you consider the treatment method according to your own tumor condition, and secondly, avoid drug abuse. For such diseases, surgery is the main treatment.

The current treatment for pituitary tumors is mainly surgical treatment, supplemented by postoperative drug therapy, such as bromocriptine, and radiotherapy.

Drug treatment has been a rapidly developing field in recent years, especially for hormone-secreting tumors, especially prolactinomas. Now, with the popularity of bromocriptine, the price of drugs has dropped, and the side effects are getting fewer and fewer, 70% to 80% of our prolactinomas can now be treated with drugs, and even lifelong drugs can be used. For many large prolactinomas, giant prolactinomas, patients who are not suitable for surgery can also be treated with drugs first. Most non-functional pituitary microadenomas do not choose to be treated, even if there is a tumor, but for non-functional macroadenomas, surgical treatment is the first choice. In addition, there are some drug treatments. Pituitary adenomas may also be accompanied by some complications. The patients with acromegaly mentioned just now may also be accompanied by heart disease or even heart failure. Can pituitary tumors be completely cured? The specific methods of pituitary tumor surgery are generally divided into two categories: craniotomy and transsphenoidal approach. Transsphenoidal surgery is to use a non-craniotomy method to go directly to the pituitary tumor from the nasal cavity or under the lips, through an anatomical structure called the "sphenoid sinus" below the pituitary gland. Compared with craniotomy, it has the advantages of direct tumor exposure, no need to shave the head or open the skull (cover), no change in the craniofacial appearance, less trauma and risk, good efficacy, and high cure rate. It is currently the preferred procedure adopted by most experts. For the treatment of pituitary tumors, the transsphenoidal approach is only the first step. Due to the particularity and complexity of pituitary tumors, there are many related professional issues involved. Therefore, choosing a large medical unit with a good reputation and a doctor who has specialized in pituitary tumors for treatment can ensure the best possible treatment effect.