The anterior lobe of the pituitary gland of the brain affects the formation of a benign formation in women called the pituitary adenoma. Symptoms in women, treatment, prognosis and possible consequences of this serious disease require detailed consideration.
What is pituitary adenoma?
The pituitary gland itself is a vital gland, the state of which is directly proportional to the balanced hormonal background of the human body. This is one of the most common diseases in brain tissue. The pituitary adenoma is detected in 10 cases from 100 different types of initial tumors. In addition, the statistics are not encouraging: 20% of women who have crossed the 30-year frontier suffer from pathological manifestations of the pituitary gland in various forms.
Mostly adenomas are a variety of tumors that do not have morphological signs of cancer. Nevertheless, without the necessary treatment, the likelihood of adenoma degenerating into a malignant tumor is quite high. However, it can pose more danger to neighboring parts of the brain. They give in to the risk of squeezing by a tumor prone to germination, which usually leads to endocrine disorders, neurological complications, and hearing and visual impairment.
Causes and risk groups in women
Despite certain advances in medicine, modern researchers can not accurately determine the reasons why pituitary adenoma occurs. Symptoms in women caused by this pathology can help determine the sources of the disease and narrow the range of provoking risk factors in each case.
Some scientists believe that the unnatural growth of glandular tissue occurs due to the low productivity of the peripheral parts of the endocrine system of the body or with increased production of hormones by the hypothalamus. It follows that the causes of pituitary adenoma in women have a diverse nature of origin, and the most common and reliable doctors include the following:
• transferred intracranial injuries (concussions, bruises, hemorrhages);
• infectious diseases affecting the state of the central nervous system (meningitis, poliomyelitis, tuberculosis, encephalitis, syphilis, etc.);
• intrauterine complications;
• regular intake of oral hormonal contraceptives;
• radiation exposure;
• changes in the structure of DNA at the genetic level.
Often, not only women but also men who have a hereditary predisposition or at least one of the above diseases that stimulate the appearance of a tumor fall into the risk group. At the same time, pituitary adenoma in women (many people who happened to face this problem in life know what it is) is often provoked by neoplasia, which has been steadily entrenched in several generations of the same family. Cases of the development of this disease in children up to adolescence are practically not found.
Tumor classification
A variety of symptoms are characteristic of all benign tumors that develop in the parts of the brain, including the pituitary adenoma. Symptoms in women are manifested depending on the species of the disease, which are divided according to such basic criteria:
• type of adenoma - functional (producing hormones) or non-functional (passive);
• tumor size - macroadenomas (more than 10 mm) and microadenomas (up to 10 mm).
Manifestations of non-functional tumors directly depend on what size the pituitary adenoma will be . Symptoms in women, treatment, prognosis of such brain diseases depend on the degree of tumor growth. A large tumor has a strong compressive effect not only on the gland itself, but also on other closely located brain structures. The severity of pathological phenomena is determined by the degree of pressure of the neoplasm.
A functionally active pituitary tumor may also increase in diameter. In this case, the patient is threatened with complications at the same time from a hormonal excess and symptoms associated with squeezing an enlarged tumor.
Non-functional macroadenomas
Signs of pituitary adenoma in women, characteristic of the non-functional type of tumors (more than 1 cm):
• There are difficulties with the definition and perception of colors, shades; all visible objects appear patient inexpressive and tarnished.
• Visual acuity is lost, as a growing tumor, directed forward, affects the optic nerve. Surrounding objects become blurred for the patient, as if with erased edges.
• The ability to look with lateral vision is lost. In this case, the loss of peripheral vision can be detected only with a complex form of the disease.
The effect of the tumor on the pituitary gland
It is also important that a benign education, having reached a certain limit value, can interfere with the pituitary gland performing its natural functions, which often leads to pituitary insufficiency. In addition, patients should pay attention to the nature, frequency and frequency of symptoms that causes pituitary adenoma in women. The consequences of the disease with pituitary insufficiency are different in each individual case. Often, women do not even pay much attention to the following symptoms:
• infertility (this diagnosis is due to an intensive decrease in the produced sex hormones);
• hypothyroidism (deterioration or complete lack of appetite, uncharacteristic fatigue, weight gain, distraction);
• irregular menstrual cycle (changes in the nature of the manifestation of menstruation, a decrease in discharge and duration of the course);
• adrenal insufficiency (decreased production of the hormone cortisol);
• galactorrhea (with breastfeeding).
Symptoms of functional adenoma
Signs of the disease appear depending on which cells the functional active pituitary adenoma has formed from. Symptoms in women, treatment, prognosis and the chances of a successful recovery depend on which hormone is produced in excess. It is worth noting that during the diagnosis, doctors most often identify non-functional neoplasms. Hormone-active pituitary tumors manifest themselves as follows:
• increase thyroid-stimulating hormone;
• increase in adrenocorticotropic hormone;
• increased prolactin;
• increase in growth hormone.
A lot of inconvenience and discomfort brings to patients exactly the last sign of the present disease, which can cause hormonal-active pituitary adenoma. Symptoms in women (photo is presented for clarity) with increased production of growth hormone are manifested in a noticeable increase in arms and legs.
Features and methods of treating pituitary adenoma
The main principle on which the entire treatment process is based is not only the positive effect on a benign neoplasm, but also the elimination of side symptoms and the negative effects of the tumor.
For many oncological diseases that are non-cancerous in nature (such as pituitary adenoma in women), drug-based treatment can be quite effective. However, this only applies to pathologies identified in the early stages of development.
In most cases, this treatment method involves the use of drugs that block growth hormone receptors. More complex treatment options include radiosurgery and neurosurgery. Radiosurgical intervention is optimal only as a last resort and is used when the surgical process is not effective enough.
Surgical treatment of the disease
A neurosurgical operation takes about two hours. Penetration into the skull is via the nasal passage. Using a specially designed microscope and other necessary instruments, the surgeon reaches the pituitary gland. At the end of the operation, the patient will be under the supervision of specialists in the intensive care unit for about another day. The next day, in case of successful operation and a satisfactory reaction of the body, the patient will be transferred to the general ward. The use of food during the first day is contraindicated, but at the end of the first day it is allowed to drink water in small sips, then try to get up and walk. As a rule, the treatment of most of these diseases with the help of neurosurgical intervention is completed successfully and is characterized by a rapid rehabilitation period. The pituitary adenoma is no exception. Symptoms in women treated surgically may be postoperative and may be expressed for some time by dizziness, nausea.
The consequences of removing the pituitary adenoma
The chances of recovery are primarily due to how great the pituitary adenoma was. Symptoms in women, treatment, prognosis for recovery, possible consequences - all this depends on the size of the neoplasm. As accurately as possible, to form a plan of rehabilitation measures and objectively assess the possibility of recovery will allow fresh clinical indicators obtained as a result of re-examination. A significant role here is played by the conclusions of the surgeon, ophthalmologist and endocrinologist, necessary to compile a complete picture of the patient's condition.
Rehabilitation Forecast
Turning to statistics again, one can see that pituitary adenoma in women lends itself to full recovery in 85 out of a hundred patients. A full restoration of visual abilities depends on how long the organs of vision have undergone disturbances. With a short duration of the disease, the chances of recovery are quite high, but the visual function is unlikely to be restored in full in the case of a long course of a disease such as pituitary adenoma in women. Whatever this means, preservation of vision at least at the level at which treatment was started can be considered the surgeon's only task.