Is surgery necessary for pituitary tumors?

Surgical treatment is the main method for treating pituitary tumors. Many patients have raised the question: Is surgery necessary for pituitary tumors? Experts say that pituitary tumors do not necessarily require surgery. This depends on the specific situation. For some patients, drug treatment may be more suitable. Let us listen to the experts' introduction on when surgery should be performed.

Since the pituitary gland grows in the center of the bottom of the brain tissue, and is surrounded by many very important blood vessels and nerves, such as the optic nerve and the basilar cerebral artery, once a tumor grows, its clinical manifestations are also complex and varied. Pituitary tumors, also known as pituitary adenomas, are a type of endocrine system tumor, most of which are slow-growing benign tumors. They usually occur in young and middle-aged people, mostly between the ages of 30 and 60, and are more common in women. Once a pituitary tumor is diagnosed, it can have a great negative impact on the patient's quality of life.

Experts say that pituitary tumors can be treated with a variety of methods, including surgery, drugs, and radiotherapy. Treatment is mainly determined by the size of the tumor, whether it secretes hormones, and the patient's complications to determine an individualized treatment plan. Usually, small microadenomas without endocrine hormone abnormalities do not necessarily need to be treated. About 97% of non-functional pituitary tumors do not require surgery. If there is no corresponding hyperactivity or hypoactivity of pituitary hormones, long-term clinical follow-up is possible. If corresponding clinical symptoms appear during the follow-up process, the tumor grows faster, and compresses the surrounding tissues (such as visual field defects, etc.), minimally invasive transsphenoidal surgery can be considered. For functional tumors such as pituitary prolactin-secreting and growth hormone-secreting tumors, drug treatment is required, but surgery or radiotherapy is not necessarily required. About 80% of prolactin-secreting pituitary tumors require drug treatment, and a considerable number of patients with acromegaly have residual preoperative or postoperative symptoms, which require treatment with somatostatin-type drugs.

Pituitary adenoma (abbreviated as pituitary tumor) is one of the most common tumors in the brain. Because the tumor is located deep in the brain and the endocrine center, it exerts pressure on the surrounding area and affects the endocrine system, often causing serious damage to the patient's growth, development, reproductive function, and ability to work. Although pituitary tumors are benign tumors, it is difficult to achieve complete cure by relying on only one method due to insufficient knowledge of the disease.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and endocrine hormone testing are important means to improve the early diagnosis of pituitary tumors. All patients with pituitary tumors should be fully evaluated and followed up throughout their lives. Many patients think that everything will be fine after surgery, but regardless of whether surgery or radiotherapy is performed, regular long-term follow-up is necessary to re-evaluate the level of pituitary hormone function, and re-examine the sellar region MRI when necessary to monitor the recurrence and growth of the tumor.