Is it okay to take medicine without surgery for pituitary tumor?

Modern people live at a fast pace and face great pressure from work. Many white-collar workers are experiencing "sub-health" conditions such as fatigue, blurred vision, lack of energy at work, and wanting to sleep after get off work. Some women have menstrual disorders, infrequent periods, or even infertility. They have pituitary tumors, but patients want to take medication all the time to treat them instead of undergoing surgery. Let's see if it's okay to take medication without undergoing surgery for pituitary tumors?

Pituitary tumors are common benign intracranial tumors, accounting for 10% of intracranial tumors. However, due to the hidden early symptoms, they are often easily ignored. The actual prevalence of pituitary tumors has been on the rise in recent years, and foreign reports show that the autopsy rate of subclinical pituitary microadenomas can be as high as 5% to 20%.

The pituitary gland is located in the middle of the base of the brain. Although it is only the size of a small peanut, it is the most important gland for regulating the normal physiological functions of the human body. It can be called the "headquarters" of the human endocrine function. Once you have a pituitary tumor, it is like placing a "time bomb" in the "headquarters", interfering with the normal regulation of endocrine hormones in the human body, thus causing a series of endocrine disorder symptoms, mainly manifested as the following:

1. Amenorrhea-lactation-infertility: caused by pituitary lactotroph adenoma, the most common type, accounting for about 40-60% of the total number of pituitary tumors. It is more common in women of childbearing age. Because some women are "ashamed to talk about" their physiological conditions, they do not realize the seriousness of the problem until they are infertile for many years after marriage, causing tension in the relationship between husband and wife. Although menstrual regulation treatment can create an artificial cycle to create the illusion of effective treatment, it cannot fundamentally solve the problem and delays the treatment of the real cause - pituitary tumor. Men may also suffer from lactotroph adenoma, and the main clinical manifestations are impotence and sexual dysfunction.

2. Gigantism-acromegaly: It is caused by pituitary growth hormone cell adenoma, accounting for about 20-30% of pituitary tumors. The world's first female giant who was treated in our hospital some time ago is a typical case of this disease. This type of pituitary tumor will manifest as gigantism if it occurs before puberty, and acromegaly after adulthood, that is, facial deformation and enlargement, hypertrophy of the nose, lips and tongue, thick and wide hands and feet, and often need to increase shoe size. Due to the increase of glucose-raising hormones, patients are prone to diabetes.

3. Obesity: caused by adrenocorticotroph cell adenoma, accounting for about 5-15% of pituitary tumors. This disease is characterized by characteristic obesity, namely centripetal obesity, medically known as "Cushing's syndrome". The patient has fat accumulation on the face and trunk, while the limbs are relatively thin, with a "full moon face" and "buffalo back" appearance. Facial acne, as well as refractory hypertension and hypokalemia, etc.

Other pituitary tumors without endocrine function lack characteristic symptoms in the early stage, but compress normal pituitary tissue and cause symptoms of hypopituitarism such as fatigue, lethargy, and hair loss. In the later stage, they compress the optic nerve and block the circulation of cerebrospinal fluid, leading to progressive vision loss and intracranial hypertension symptoms, which may even be life-threatening.

Once you have a pituitary tumor, there is no need to panic. The development of modern medicine can safely remove this "time bomb" and allow patients to resume normal life. Early treatment can often cure the disease. There are many ways to treat pituitary tumors. The first choice is surgical treatment. Most of them use a single-nostril transsphenoidal approach, which has little trauma, short operation time, fast postoperative recovery, no incision scars left on the body surface, and satisfactory efficacy. However, according to the doctor's prescription and treatment, taking medicine is okay, but the best surgery is found. For those who are not suitable for or unwilling to have surgery, targeted drug treatment or gamma knife treatment can also be used. The key to the effectiveness of treatment is early detection, early diagnosis, and early treatment. Therefore, it is recommended that patients and friends who have the above symptoms should go to a regular hospital for scientific examination in time, obtain an accurate diagnosis, and carry out targeted treatment. Do not believe the false advertisements of the so-called "specialist clinics" on the street, and do not take any tonic medicine at will. Otherwise, not only will you spend money to cure the disease, but you may also delay the disease and affect your health.