What are the symptoms of pituitary tumors in women?

Everyone knows the importance of the pituitary gland to life activities. Therefore, once a pituitary tumor occurs, the function of the pituitary gland may be impaired, which is a huge hazard to health. The patient may develop diabetes insipidus, meningitis, cranial nerve paralysis and other serious diseases. Therefore, it is necessary to seize the time to treat pituitary tumors. Pituitary tumors usually have the following symptoms.

1. Hypopituitarism:

The degree of hypopituitarism is related to the degree of compression of normal pituitary gland cells. Due to the hypofunction of the anterior pituitary gland, the endocrine glands it controls atrophy, resulting in various functional disorders. The late stage of pituitary chromophobe adenoma or oncocytic adenoma often manifests as hypopituitarism.

2. Hyperpituitarism:

Eosinophils can produce growth hormone and prolactin. Alkaliphilic cells produce thyroid-stimulating hormone, adrenocorticotropic hormone and gonadotropin, etc. Thus, such tumors can cause hyperpituitarism, especially in the early stages. Although acidophilic adenomas may secrete excessive growth hormone, they can also squeeze out alkaliphilic cells, causing their function to decline.

3. Symptoms of involvement of the posterior pituitary and hypothalamus:

If the tumor affects the posterior pituitary or hypothalamus, it can cause salivation, fat metabolism disorders, low body temperature, and loss of water, polydipsia, polyuria and electrolytes.

4. Symptoms and signs of optic nerve compression:

Because the tumor grows in the sella turcica, it develops upward and compresses the optic chiasm or optic nerve, causing changes in vision and visual field. More than 90% of patients have decreased vision, which can be monocular vision loss, and even cause blindness in one or both eyes. Changes in visual field may vary due to compression of nerves or optic chiasm. Compression of the optic chiasm may cause bilateral temporal hemianopsia or temporal blindness in one eye. If the tumor is located on one side and compresses the optic tract or optic nerve, it may cause contralateral homonymous hemianopsia or total blindness in one eye. More than 70% of patients have fundus changes. Most are primary optic atrophy, and the severity varies depending on the degree of compression of the optic nerve, ranging from optic disc color to typical primary optic atrophy. Only in a few cases does optic disc edema occur due to increased intracranial pressure.

5. Symptoms and signs of endocrine and metabolic disorders:

The endocrine function of the pituitary gland is very complex. It is mainly under the control of the central nervous system and controls the regulation of physiological activities such as human growth, sexual function, substance metabolism, sexual organs and development through endocrine. It is known that the anterior pituitary gland secretes six hormones, namely growth hormone, adrenocorticotropic hormone, prolactin, thyroid-stimulating hormone and two gonadotropins. The eosinophilic and alkaliphilic adenoma cells themselves have endocrine functions, which can cause excessively high hormone levels, manifesting as hyperpituitarism, but the tumor can also squeeze the normal pituitary gland, causing hypopituitarism. In addition, the tumor may affect the hypothalamus upward and the posterior pituitary gland backward. The posterior pituitary gland contains antidiuretic hormone and oxytocin, so diabetes insipidus may occur if the posterior pituitary gland is affected.

6. Headache and symptoms and signs of increased intracranial pressure:

Pituitary adenomas often cause headaches. In a small number of patients, the tumor protrudes into the anterior part of the third ventricle, causing increased intracranial pressure and resulting in symptoms such as headaches, vomiting, and papilledema. However, most pituitary adenomas do not cause increased intracranial pressure but are accompanied by headaches. The headaches may be caused by the growth of the tumor in the sella turcica, which increases the tension of the sellar diaphragm, or by the involvement of sensitive structures such as the meninges, nerves, and blood vessels. In addition, headaches can also be caused by thickening of the skull and bone hyperplasia affecting the meninges and blood vessels. Patients with eosinophilic pituitary adenoma not only suffer from persistent headaches, but also often have pain in the limbs and back.