What's a Pituitary Tumor?
Pituitary tumor or pituitary adenoma is a benign tumor that usually occurs on the front of the pituitary gland. Pituitary tumors make up approximately 15% of the primary brain tumors.

Where's The Pituitary? What Does It Do?
The pituitary gland is a bean-sized secretion gland located on the base of the brain, right behind the nose root, inside a bone structure called sella turcica. Prolactin, growth hormones and adrenocorticotropic hormones are released from this cloth. These hormones help many important functions in the body, including sexual development, bone development, muscle-making, stress-handling and disease protection. Pituitary tumors disrupt this normal hormonal function. Some pituitary tumors don't secrete hormones.

How Often Do Pituitary Tumors Appear And Who Does It Appear In?
They are seen in each age group, but are more common in the age group of 30-60. It is the third most common primary brain tumors following meningiomas and gliomas in adults. Although the exact frequency is unknown, about 25% of the society is thought to be a pituitary tumor that does not give any indication. Tumors that are usually hormonal, arise in younger people, tumors that have no hormone effect, and tumors that are later in age.

What Are The Symptoms of Pituitary Tumors?
There are many kinds of pituitary tumors. Symptoms vary depending on the type and characteristics. Pituitary tumors smaller than 10 mm in size are called microadenoma, 10 mm and larger macroroenoma.

-Prolactin-secreting pituitary tumors.The most common pituitary tumor, prolactinoma, is often seen in women of the breeding age and forms about 30 to 40% of all pituitary tumors. This tumor releases prolactin, a hormone that controls sexual function. This excessive prolactin outflow may result in the female hemorrhaging of her monthly period, and/or the start of milk production in the breast. These tumors, which can be seen in men around 40-50 years old, can cause symptoms such as headaches, loss of vision, impotence or sexual unwillingness in this group. Most of these tumors are microadenomas.
-Pituitary tumors secreting growth hormones. Pituitary tumors, which secrete growth hormones, form approximately 20% of all pituitary tumors and also this tumors are commonly seen in male. These tumors, usually macroadenomas can cause tumors in children or adolescents, and can be acromegal causes in adults who have completed their growth. It's the growth of acromegaly hands, feet and chin. And overgrowth hormone secreting can also make high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes heavier.
-Pituitary tumors that secrete adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). Pituitary tumors that secrete ACTH, which account for approximately 14% of all brain tumors, are more common in women. The hormone ACTH stimulates the adrenal glands, allowing the body's natural steroids glucocorticoids Tue be released. Excessive secretion of glucocorticoids causes Cushing disease. The symptoms of this disease are weight gain, diabetes, menstrual disorder, excessive hair growth on the body, easy bruising of the skin and high blood pressure.
-Pituitary tumors that can't release any hormones. These tumors, which make up about 25% of all pituitary adenomas, usually reach large dimensions without symptoms. This growth can cause loss of vision and headaches. The head of the tumor can also prevent the release of hormones normally released from the pituitary. This can cause symptoms such as apathy, fatigue, and skin fumes. Empty cell adenomas, oncocytomas silent corticotroph adenomas and gonadotroph adenomas are tumors in this group.
-Other hormone-secreting pituitary tumors. These tumors are less than 1% of all pituitary tumors. These tumors release hormones that allow the excess release of thyroid hormones, women (ovarian hormones) or manhood (testicular hormones) hormones.
-Pituitary cancers. Real malignant tumors of pituitary tissue are not often found. The pituitary carcinoma is the name given to tumors that begin in the pituitary and then perform metastasis in the brain or elsewhere in the central nervous system. These very rare tumors are usually therapeutic macroenomas. They tend to repeat and spread to the spinal cord or other organs.

How Is The Diagnosis of Pituitary Tumors Made?
When a pituitary tumor is suspected, a doctor examines the hormone levels in the blood by ordering a number of blood tests after a physical examination and neurological examination. Pituitary and sella turcica examination is performed with skull films and medicated MRI. In addition, consultation may be requested from other specialist physicians (an endocrinologist dealing with hormonal diseases and an ophthalmologist).

What Are The Treatment Options For Pituitary Tumors?
The most commonly used surgical approach is to remove the tumor by entering it through the nasal duct through the Transsphenoidal path. Surgical treatments, which have been performed in the past years, have been largely carbonated from the head stone, and are now performed through the development of technologies such as endoscope, Neuronavigation and Intraoperative MRI, and by entering more through the nose. Such approaches and technologies in surgical treatment give us greater reliability, reduced treatment time and patient comfort. With the Intraoperative MRI, which we are using in our clinic and are in the world's numbered centers, we can perform MRI imaging of the patient during surgery and, depending on the situation, decide whether to proceed with or terminate the surgery. Where the extent of removal of the lesion with the location of the lesion is at high risk, the risk areas of the lesion can be left behind for treatment of Gamma Knife beam surgery later and deactivated with Gamma Knife treatment after surgery. Our center is microsurgery, endoscope, Neuronavigation, Intraoperative MR, Intraoperative Angiography, Intraoperative genetic analysis and Gamma Knife treatment are among the number of centers that can be applied at the same time. These privileges provide the highest success rate with the least risk in the treatments we have undertaken.

Gamma Knife treatment: Gamma Knife is a treatment for radiation surgery for disease-only tissue, treated with surgical selectivity and sensitivity, without damaging normal brain tissue. The experience of our clinic in Gamma Knife treatment, which was first used by us in 1997, is among the number of centers around the world. Gamma Knife is usually a treatment for high success beam surgery in cases where surgery is not possible due to the patient's age or general health, or for tumors that have previously been operated and then repeated.

How Is The Post-Treatment Observation Time on Pituitary Tumors?
MRI and hormone tests are used for post-treatment monitoring. These are important for monitoring the success of the treatment and whether the tumor repeats. In the monitoring of hormone-secreting pituitary tumors, endocrinologists who specializes in hormone diseases are involved. The resulting hormone imbalances may be linked to the tumor, but can also be caused by hormones for treatment purposes. Pituitary tumors are usually benign, but there are risks of repeating. Therefore, observing with MRI is important.