Why do patients with pituitary tumors suffer from headaches

Nowadays, more and more people in society suffer from pituitary tumors. This is a very torturous and particularly frightening disease. When it comes to pituitary tumors, many people will think of the kind of heart-wrenching headaches that are unbearable. So why does a pituitary tumor cause a headache? I believe this is a question that many people want to know. Let's analyze why pituitary tumors cause headaches!

Pituitary tumors are a group of tumors that originate from the anterior and posterior pituitary and residual cells of the craniopharyngeal epithelium. About 10% of intracranial tumors have obvious clinical symptoms. Males are slightly more likely to have pituitary tumors than females. Pituitary tumors usually occur in young and middle-aged people, often affecting the patient's growth and development, reproductive function, learning and work ability. Clinical manifestations include abnormal hormone secretion syndrome, tumor compression of the surrounding pituitary tissue syndrome, pituitary apoplexy and other manifestations of anterior pituitary hypofunction.

In the early stage of pituitary tumor, about 2/3 of patients have headaches, which are mainly located in the retroorbital, forehead and bilateral frontal regions, with mild severity and intermittent attacks. Headaches caused by pituitary tumors are mostly caused by direct stimulation of the tumor or increased intrasellar pressure, which causes compression of the pituitary dura mater sac and the diaphragm sellae. When the tumor breaks through the diaphragm sellae, the intrasellar pressure decreases and the pain can be alleviated or disappear. Because the tumor causes increased intrasellar pressure, the pituitary dura mater sac and the diaphragm sellae are compressed, most patients have headaches, which are mainly located in the forehead, retroorbital and bilateral temporal regions, with varying degrees of severity and intermittent attacks.

Late-stage headaches can be caused by the tumor developing to the parasellar region, invading the skull base membrane and blood vessels, and compressing the trigeminal nerve. A few giant adenomas develop suprasellarly and protrude into the third ventricle, causing obstruction of the interventricular foramen or aqueduct. The headache is more severe when the intracranial pressure increases. Or the tumor necroses or bleeds, and the intratumoral pressure increases sharply. For example, if the tumor wall ruptures and causes pituitary apoplexy and subarachnoid hemorrhage, the patient will have a sudden severe headache accompanied by other neurological symptoms.

The pain caused by pituitary tumors is very torturous. How to relieve and prevent pain can refer to the following methods:

1. Early detection and early treatment: The reason why brain tumor patients experience pain is mostly due to the direct invasion or compression of sensory nerves in the surrounding tissues by tumor growth or metastasis. Therefore, the best way to make brain tumor patients pain-free is early detection and early treatment, eliminating brain cancer in its infancy and preventing it from causing pain.

2. Actively use drugs to relieve pain: Drug pain relief is mainly suitable for brain tumor patients who are unable to actively treat the tumor itself for various reasons or who still have pain after treatment, in order to effectively help these patients relieve pain.

3. Pay attention to psychological therapy to relieve the mental burden of brain tumor patients. Studies have shown that social, cultural, spiritual and psychological factors have a significant impact on the pain level of cancer patients. Social discrimination, psychological loneliness, relatives' disgust and other negative emotions can make the pain worse, while caring and comforting the patient, as well as the patient's own optimistic spirit, can help break the vicious cycle of pain and relieve the pain.