Symptoms and treatment of adenomas of the pituitary gland of the brain in women and men

1 Symptomatic of adenoma of the pituitary brain

Primary signs of the appearance of a tumor in the pituitary gland are endocrine dysfunction and pituitary insufficiency. It can be detected only on the basis of blood tests on the quantitative content of hormones. The worst situation is when a hemorrhage into the adenoma is detected, which can cause a stroke and squeezing of the blood capillaries responsible for the delivery of oxygen and other micronutrients to the brain.

Often, the adenoma of the pituitary gland is accompanied by a significant increase in the production of pituitary hormones. This does not bode well, since the functionality of the brain itself and some other physiological functions of the body is impaired. It is the pituitary gland that regulates the work of other endocrine glands responsible for pancreas, thyroid, prostate( in men), ovaries( in women).An overabundance of the hormone in the blood can lead, for example, to:

• to reproductive disorders;
• delay in menstruation;
• abnormal growth of mammary glands( thus they lose the normal form);

• hypersexuality;
• behavior disorder;
• manifestation of male or female sexual characteristics in the opposite sex.

And this is the shortest list of what can happen. There are cases when the growth of pituitary adenoma led to a disruption of somatic functions. And there were also situations when excessive pressure on the pituitary gland caused a confluence in a coma. This is the main danger - to predict what will lead to an adenoma of the pituitary gland of the brain, is almost impossible. Doctors complain only that for women the consequences can be more dangerous than for men. It is justified by the fact that the representatives of the fair sex hormones in life play a much greater role in regulating physiological processes.

In men, the symptoms of the disease are caused only by those hormones that are associated mostly with changes in human behavior. But they are not so significant that you can independently establish an accurate diagnosis. Without a comprehensive diagnosis still can not do. In women, the diagnosis is more simple - total hormonal failure, which is not accompanied by dysfunction of the thyroid gland and reproductive organs( it is the ovaries that produce most of the sex hormones).

2 Causes of the disease

Doctors can not establish the exact causes of the appearance of adenoma in the brain. They only point to possible theories, but one should not rely on them. One of them says that a jelly-like tumor arises from a violation of the circulation of cerebrospinal fluid, which is responsible for the supply of micronutrients to the upper layers of the neuronal tissue. The pier, the formation itself arises from the stagnation of this very liquid, after which a capsule is formed( as with the most common wen).

Other doctors say that the cause is the thyroid-stimulating hormone, which regulates the thyroid gland as a whole. It is believed that with dysfunction of the pituitary gland and the production of an insufficient amount of this hormone, the functionality of the thyroid gland is also inhibited. Because of this, the immunity and the function of digesting the same cerebrospinal fluid are affected. But this theory has not yet been confirmed by laboratory tests, not to mention clinical trials.

But the World Health Organization affirms with certainty that the disease is most often found in women. Only on this can be judged that the reason to some extent depends on the hormonal background. And suffer from this ailment is more often girls of reproductive age and women before the onset of menopause.

It should be noted that the tumor can be located on either side of the "Turkish saddle"( as in medical practice, the place where the brain is connected to the pituitary) is called. That is, it is not possible to establish any dependence of the location of the neoplasm with the consequences there.

Doctors still complain that Europeans and Americans are more prone to adenoma of the pituitary gland than Asians, Slavs, Negroes. But with what it is connected is a mystery. Moreover, hormonal problems among Europeans are much more common. Some of the experts complain that the reason for this is the life charter of a modern person, more predisposed to depression and emotional outbursts. But this is only in theory.

3 Methods of treatment

Unfortunately, it is not possible to get rid of pituitary adenoma with any medications. You can only slow the growth of the growth, taking all sorts of hormonal drugs, steroids, but the damage from them is no less than from the adenoma itself. Therefore, doctors treat adenoma of the pituitary gland by the following methods:

• surgical removal;
• radiotherapy( on the apparatus of the gamma-knife type);
• transsphenoidal method of removal( subspecies surgical).Implies the operation through the nasal entrance).

If pituitary adenoma is diagnosed, treatment should preferably be carried out with radiotherapy.

If it is performed with a gamma knife, the probability of a positive outcome of the operation is about 90%.It should not be thought that the therapy implies total irradiation of the body, as in malignant tumors, which was metastasized. Here, several "point" shocks with radiation beams are used, after which the neoplasm simply dissolves just as quickly as it has arisen. The probability of getting complications is extremely low - less than 1%.For comparison, with surgical removal of the tumor, it will be more than 40%.Among the possible complications,

• has a slight loss of vision;
• frequent bleeding from the nose;
• circulatory disorder in the brain;
• outflow of cerebrospinal fluid( the same cerebrospinal fluid).

The only drawback of radiation therapy - the equipment necessary for the operation, in Russian clinics is very small. It is available only in the regional polyclinics, and even then not in all regions. Plus, the cost of carrying out the operation is quite high, which would be unacceptable for most. The reason for this is the lack of specialists able to work with such modern equipment.

Pituitary adenoma, signs in women whose treatment is described above, is a disease requiring preoperative preparation. So, immediately before the operation, it will take a certain time to take hormonal preparations aimed at stabilizing that same hormonal background. If this is not done, there is a high risk that after removal of the tumor the dysfunction of the pituitary gland will remain. That is, they will produce insufficient or excessive amounts of hormones. Often this leads to infertility.

4 Rehabilitation after operation

The rehabilitation period after removal of the adenoma of the pituitary gland can last up to several years, especially when it comes to women of reproductive age. The essence of rehabilitation in the restoration of the functionality of the pituitary gland. This will be required after removal of the macroadenoma of a large size( over 12 millimeters in diameter).It will also require the prevention of endocrine system diseases. There are cases when the adenoma led to the development of diabetes mellitus because of insufficient insulin production.

At the discretion of the doctor, psychoneurological rehabilitation, which involves a visit to a psychologist, a neurologist and brain diagnostics on an MRI device, can also be carried out. If necessary, some of the hyporeflective functions are blocked. At this time, hormones are administered artificially, according to the doctor's prescription.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to predict the consequences of the development of pituitary adenoma. In some cases, a person completely recovers within a few days of the operation, while others will need several years to recover. It all depends on the size of the neoplasm, the pressure that was on the pituitary gland, and the dysfunction that accompanied all this.

The prognosis of treatment in 70 cases is positive. The remaining 30 percent are those situations when the patient allowed the tumor to grow to 1.7 centimeters in diameter or higher. In this case, not only the normal functionality of the blood vessels of the brain is disrupted, but also the delivery of cerebrospinal fluid can be blocked. This is the worst possible scenario, in which the risk of a confluence in a coma grows to 95%.

As for the prognosis of exacerbation of complications, they can be eliminated at an early stage of the disorder. Especially it concerns visual dysfunction. That is why for the following year after the operation it is necessary to consult with the attending physician, who performed an operation to remove the adenoma of the pituitary gland.

What is the disease of adenoma of the pituitary gland, symptoms in women, treatment, prognosis we told. Is it possible to prevent the development of the disease? Yes, if you follow the rules of prevention.

5 Prevention of the disease

The only possible prevention of pituitary adenoma is the control of the hormonal background and the passage of at least 1 time per year of MRI.The tumor itself grows for several years, increasing every 2-3 months by only a few millimeters. If the tumor is found when its size is only a few millimeters - with its removal there will be no problems at all, as with rehabilitation.

By the way, doctors also point to the statistics according to which the pituitary adenoma occurs more often in people predisposed to oncological diseases. That is, we should pay attention to the pedigree. If a person enters the so-called risk category, he should definitely consult with the doctor several times a year, and at least once pass a magnetic resonance imaging.

The risk group includes diabetics with insulin dependence. In principle, this disease already indicates endocrine dysfunction and the need for total control of the hormonal background. Unfortunately, statistics about how often diabetics suffer from an adenoma of the pituitary gland are not yet available.

The last thing to note is that a healthy lifestyle does not in any way affect the likelihood of developing the pituitary adenoma. Physicians, at least until now, have not been able to establish direct or indirect dependence. So it is worth understanding that it is the pathology in the endocrine system or the pituitary itself that leads to the build-up. By itself, it is not dangerous, but if it puts pressure on the pituitary itself and the cerebral cortex, the consequences will be most deplorable.

So, the adenoma of the pituitary gland is a disease of the endocrine system, in which a jelly-like growth occurs in the region of the "Turkish saddle".In the early stages it is not dangerous, but if the cyst grows to a size exceeding 12 millimeters in diameter, physiological pressure appears on the pituitary itself. To get rid of a neoplasm it is possible only at surgical removal.