Pituitary Adenoma - Diagnosis and Therapy

What is the Pituitary Adenoma

The pituitary adenoma is a benign tumor that develops from the cells of the pituitary gland, an endocrine gland responsible for the secretion of hormones that regulate numerous functions of the organism. The clinical picture determined by a pituitary adenoma depends on many factors. Due to its large size, a macroadenoma can cause important health effects, due to the compression of neighboring structures (pituitary hypofunction, visual symptoms and neurological signs).

Often, the symptoms depend on an excessive secretion of active hormones (secreting adenomas) or their failure to release into the circulation (non-secreting adenomas). Pituitary adenomas, therefore, possess the ability to alter the production and regulation system of hormones at the level of the pituitary-hypothalamus axis, consequently disturbing the activity of the target organs (hypopituitarism, hormonal hypersecretion or hypersecretive syndrome). In many cases, pituitary tumors are asymptomatic and the patient does not suspect their existence, so much so that they are often diagnosed accidentally.

Diagnosis