Can pituitary tumor be cured without craniotomy?

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Can pituitary tumor be cured without craniotomy?

Can pituitary tumor be cured without craniotomy?  According to the different hormone secretion, pituitary tumors can be divided into hormone secreting pituitary tumors and non-functioning adenomas.

A patient recently encountered an upset. A month ago, he had headaches and vision loss for unknown reasons. Every morning, he always felt his eyes clouded with fog, and he barely felt better by rubbing it twice.

At first the doctor thought it was caused by fatigue, but after taking a few days at home, my symptoms did not get better, but got worse. Go to the local hospital for examination. The CT results of the head suggest that the saddle area is occupying space. Consider pituitary tumors.

Preoperative

This patient and his family were very panicked. After many inquiries, he learned that Luo Zhongping, director of the Department of Neurosurgery of the Affiliated Hospital of Xiangnan University, can treat pituitary tumors with minimally invasive surgery without a craniotomy, and the effect of surgical treatment is very good, so he came to Xiangnan. See a doctor in the affiliated hospital of the college.

After a series of hospital admissions, This patientwas diagnosed with non-functioning pituitary macroadenoma, with clear indications for surgery. Director Luo Zhongping of Neurosurgery led the team to discuss thoroughly and decided to perform transsphenoidal microsurgery, minimally invasive removal of the tumor from the nasal cavity, without craniotomy and no surgical wounds.

Postoperative

During the operation, with the aid of a microscope, Director Luo patiently separated the boundary between the tumor capsule and the normal pituitary, and finally completely removed the pituitary tumor. The operation was over in less than 2 hours, and the bleeding was less than 20ml. On the second day after the operation, the patient went to the ground for activities, his vision improved significantly, and he was cured and discharged.

According to Luo Zhongping, most pituitary tumors are benign brain tumors. Surgical resection is the main treatment method, which is divided into two types: craniotomy and transsphenoidal sinus surgery. Traditional craniotomy has poor field of vision, surgical trauma and high risk. At present, transsphenoidal microsurgery for pituitary tumor removal has been widely used by neurosurgeons at home and abroad.

The neuroendoscope points to the pituitary through the natural passage of the nasal cavity. There is a sphenoid sinus between the pituitary and the nasal cavity. The pituitary tumor can be removed by opening the sphenoid sinus. Minimally invasive neuroendoscopic surgery has brought revolutionary changes to the treatment of pituitary tumors, with less trauma, high safety, fewer complications, faster recovery, and more thorough removal of pituitary tumors.

Information about pituitary tumor

The pituitary gland is located at the center of the bottom of the brain. Although it is only the size of a pea, it has strong endocrine functions and can secrete many hormones such as growth hormone. Most of the various life activities of the human body cannot do without it.

When the cells of the pituitary gland grow out of control, “pituitary tumors” can occur. Once pituitary tumors appear, the functions of the glands and organs of the human body will also be messed up.

Most of this “uncontrolled cell growth” occurs in the anterior pituitary (adenohypophysis), also known as “pituitary adenoma”. Pituitary tumors account for about 10% of all intracranial tumors, ranking second among primary brain tumors, and most of them are benign.

According to the different hormone secretion, pituitary tumors can be divided into hormone secreting pituitary tumors and non-functioning adenomas. According to different types of hormone secretion, hormone-secreting pituitary tumors can be divided into prolactin-type pituitary tumors, growth hormone-type pituitary tumors, corticotropin-type pituitary tumors and so on.

01. Non-functioning pituitary adenoma

The patient has no obvious physical signs and is usually found on physical examination; or there are symptoms of compression of surrounding structures.

The tumor grows to the saddle and oppresses the optic chiasma, which may manifest as decreased vision and visual field defects; if the tumor invades the cavernous sinus of the neurovascular plexus around the pituitary gland, oculomotor or abducens nerve palsy will occur, such as upper eyelid drooping and pupil enlargement And other performance.

02. Prolactin secreting pituitary tumor

Female patients mainly present with amenorrhea, lactation, and infertility. Male patients mainly manifested as decreased male sexual function, such as decreased libido, impotence and infertility.

03. Growth hormone secreting pituitary tumor

Adolescent patients with unclosed epiphyses often present with gigantism and are taller than ordinary people. Too much growth hormone in adulthood leads to changes in face and large hands and feet (increased size of shoes). In addition, hyperhidrosis, bone and joint disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. may occur.

04. Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) secreting pituitary tumor

Also known as “Cushing’s disease”, it mainly manifests as central obesity, full moon face, acne, hirsutism, and purple streaks (purple-red skin streaks on the body).

05. Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) secreting pituitary tumor

Excessive TSH stimulates the thyroid to produce too much thyroid hormone (hyperthyroidism, also known as central hyperthyroidism), which is mainly manifested as symptoms of high metabolism, such as fever, sweating, weight loss, palpitation and atrial fibrillation.

In short, pituitary tumor is a disease with variable clinical manifestations. If you have the above discomfort, please go to the hospital in time; if you are diagnosed with pituitary tumor, do not panic.  Surgery can quickly relieve the compression and relieve the intracranial hypertension, transnasal microscopy Surgery has the advantages of no craniotomy, less trauma, and quicker recovery after surgery, which brings good news to patients.

(source:internet, reference only)

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