What are the clinical manifestations of pituitary tumors

Pituitary tumors are a very stressful disease because they occur in the brain. Since the incidence of pituitary tumors has been increasing in recent years, it is necessary for everyone to learn some knowledge about pituitary tumors, prevent diseases in life, and be able to recognize some symptoms of the disease and treat them in time. So, what are the clinical manifestations of pituitary tumors?

1. Endocrine manifestations of the same type of pituitary adenomas

1. Growth hormone cell adenoma: The early tumor is only a few millimeters in size, and the main manifestation is excessive secretion of growth hormone. Minor patients may grow too fast and even develop into giants. After adulthood, it manifests as acromegaly. Such as facial changes, enlarged forehead, protruding lower jaw, large nose and thick lips, thick fingers, tight shoes and hats, several changes to larger models, and even have to be specially made. Some patients also have increased appetite, rough hair and skin, pigmentation, numbness of fingers, etc. Severe patients feel general fatigue, headache and joint pain, sexual dysfunction, amenorrhea and infertility, and even complicated by diabetes.

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 loss of 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, there will be amenorrhea, loss of libido, general fatigue, and even bedridden. Some patients also have hypertension, diabetes, etc.

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

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 individual reports of patients with darkening of the skin without increased cortisol.

7. Endocrine inactive adenoma: In the early stage, the patient has no special feeling, but as the tumor grows, it may compress the pituitary gland and cause clinical manifestations of pituitary insufficiency.

8. Malignant pituitary tumor: short history, rapid progression of the disease, not only the tumor grows and compresses the pituitary tissue, but also invades the surrounding area, causing bone destruction at the sellar floor or infiltration into the cavernous sinus, causing oculomotor nerve paralysis or abducens nerve paralysis. Sometimes the tumor penetrates the sellar floor and grows into the sphenoid sinus, and the neurological symptoms are not obvious in a short period of time.

2. Visual field disturbance: Early pituitary adenoma often does not cause visual field disturbance

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

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, psychiatric 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.

The above is a brief introduction to the clinical manifestations of pituitary tumors, and the following will introduce other symptoms. I would like to remind you that this problem is not so easy to solve. You must seek medical treatment in time to find the correct treatment method.