Pituitary Adenomas

Benign Pituitary Adenomas

These tumors are not cancerous. These tumors grow very slowly and do not spread from the pituitary gland to other parts of the body.

Invasive Pituitary Adenomas

These tumors are not cancerous. These benign tumors may spread to skull bones or the sinus cavity below the pituitary gland.

Pituitary Carcinomas

These tumors are malignant (cancerous). These pituitary tumors spread into other areas of the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) or outside of the central nervous system. Very few pituitary tumors are malignant.

Pituitary tumors may be either non-functioning or functioning:

• Non-functioning pituitary tumors do not make extra amounts of hormones
• Functioning pituitary tumors make more than the normal amount of one or more hormones

Most pituitary tumors are functioning tumors. The extra hormones made by pituitary tumors may cause certain signs or symptoms of disease.

Signs of a pituitary tumor can depend on the type of tumor it is (non-functioning or functioning). Symptoms can be caused by the growth of the tumor, by hormones the tumor makes or by other conditions. Some tumors may not cause signs or symptoms.

General signs and symptoms of pituitary tumors can include:

• Nausea and vomiting
• Confusion
• Dizziness
• Seizures
• Runny or "drippy" nose (cerebrospinal fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord leaks into the nose)
• Vision changes

Sometimes, a pituitary tumor may press on or damage parts of the pituitary gland, causing it to stop making one or more hormones. Too little of a certain hormone will affect the work of the gland or organ that the hormone controls. These signs and symptoms may occur:

• Headache
• Some loss of vision
• Loss of body hair
• In women, less frequent or no menstrual periods or no milk from the breasts
• In men, loss of facial hair, growth of breast tissue and impotence
• In women and men, a lower sex drive
• In children, slowed growth and sexual development

Most tumors that make luteinizing hormones (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormones (FSH) do not produce enough extra hormones to cause signs and symptoms, so they are considered non-functioning tumors.

When a functioning pituitary tumor makes extra hormones, the signs and symptoms will depend on the type of hormone being produced.

Too much prolactin may cause:

• Headache
• Some loss of vision
• Less frequent or no menstrual periods or menstrual periods with a very light flow
• Trouble becoming pregnant or an inability to become pregnant
• Impotence in men
• Lower sex drive
• Flow of breast milk in a woman who is not pregnant or breastfeeding

Too much adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) may cause:

• Headache
• Some loss of vision
• Weight gain in the face, neck and trunk of the body, and thin arms and legs
• A lump of fat on the back of the neck
• Thin skin that may have purple or pink stretch marks on the chest or abdomen
• Easy bruising
• Growth of fine hair on the face, upper back or arms
• Bones that break easily
• Anxiety, irritability and depression

Too much growth hormone may cause:

• Headache
• Some loss of vision
• In adults, acromegaly (growth of the bones in the face, hands and feet); in children, the whole body may grow much taller and larger than usual
• Tingling or numbness in the hands and fingers
• Snoring or pauses in breathing during sleep
• Joint pain
• Sweating more than usual
• Dysmorphophobia (extreme dislike of or concern about one or more parts of the body)

Too much thyroid-stimulating hormone may cause:

• Irregular heartbeat
• Shakiness
• Weight loss
• Trouble sleeping
• Frequent bowel movements
• Sweating

Having certain genetic conditions increases the risk of developing a pituitary tumor.

Risk factors for pituitary tumors include having the following hereditary diseases:

• Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1) syndrome
• Carney complex
• Isolated familial acromegaly