Pituitary tumors

Abstract

Great strides have been made in the understanding of anatomy, physiology, pathology, diagnosis, and treatment of pituitary adenomas. The single greatest credit should probably be given to the rapid advancement in surgical techniques that ushered in a new era of multispecialty interest in the pituitary and its disorders. The fate of patients with pituitary adenomas was thus greatly improved. Surgical treatment can offer a cure in a vast majority of patients. The morbidity and mortality following transsphenoidal surgery are low. In patients with certain hormonally active pituitary macroadenomas, multidisciplinary therapy including pre- and postoperative medical management with bromocriptine and postoperative radiation therapy have decreased the recurrence rate to a respectable 10 per cent.