What should not be eaten with pituitary tumors?

Written by Chen Yu Fei
Neurosurgery
Updated on September 29, 2024
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For patients with pituitary tumors, it is advisable to be cautious about their diet in daily life. Try to avoid eating foods that are overly greasy, spicy, or irritating. It’s also best to limit or avoid consuming foods rich in cholesterol, carbohydrates, or fried foods. Additionally, women should avoid taking hormonal medications, especially short-acting hormonal drugs, as they can disrupt existing endocrine hormone balances, exacerbate symptoms, and lead to an increase in the size of the pituitary tumor. Furthermore, in daily life, avoid eating foods that may cause allergies, such as seafood products.

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Written by Chen Yu Fei
Neurosurgery
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Symptoms of Pituitary Tumors

For patients with pituitary tumors, they often present with headaches, typically located behind the eye sockets, forehead, and both temporal areas. In the early stages of the disease, the nature of the headache is relatively mild and intermittent, mostly due to direct stimulation by the tumor or due to increased intrasellar pressure causing compression of the pituitary dural sac and the diaphragm sellae. When the tumor breaks through the diaphragm sellae, the intrasellar pressure gradually decreases, and the pain may gradually lessen or disappear. In the later stages of the disease, headaches may occur due to the tumor spreading to the parasellar region, invading the dura and vessels at the skull base, and compressing the trigeminal nerve, causing severe pain. In rare cases, due to a large pituitary adenoma growing upward into the third ventricle, breaking through and causing obstruction of the foramen of Monroe or the cerebral aqueduct, progressive intracranial pressure increases.

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Written by Chen Yu Fei
Neurosurgery
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How many days of hospitalization for pituitary tumor surgery?

For patients with pituitary tumors, it normally takes about one to two weeks to undergo surgery and be hospitalized. After surgery, it is appropriate for patients to rest in bed and refrain from getting up too early, mainly to monitor for any occurrence of cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea. Premature activity might lead to cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea or even trigger intracranial infections. Additionally, after surgery, it is important to perform blood tests to check the levels of endocrine hormones in the body, primarily to assess whether important electrolyte and hormone levels are normal. If there are abnormalities, adjustments should be made promptly, and discharge can be considered once the patient's condition is stable.

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Written by Gao Yi Shen
Neurosurgery
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How long is the leave for pituitary tumor surgery?

The duration of leave needed after pituitary tumor surgery must be judged based on individual circumstances, as everyone's condition is different. Generally, if the tumor removal uses a minimally invasive method, entering through the nose, then under normal circumstances, if the surgery goes well without any complications or sequelae, the patient often only needs to take one to two weeks off, and can usually return to work or studies afterwards. However, in some cases where open craniotomy is used for the tumor removal and the surgery encounters problems, postoperative complications or sequelae may occur, and the leave required can be around one to two months. If the condition is more critical, the leave period may be extended even further. Therefore, the decision must be based on the specific condition at the time, with most cases likely requiring around one month off.

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Written by Chen Yu Fei
Neurosurgery
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The difference between pituitary tumors and pituitary adenomas

The difference between a pituitary tumor and a pituitary adenoma mainly lies in the extent of the affected tissue involved. Generally, pituitary tumors may have a broader range than pituitary adenomas, meaning that pituitary tumors include pituitary adenomas. Normally, a pituitary adenoma specifically refers to tumors occurring in the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland, as this lobe primarily consists of glandular tissue. Meanwhile, the posterior lobe of the pituitary is mainly neurohypophysis. Therefore, tumors typically referred to as pituitary adenomas occur in the anterior lobe. If a tumor is in the posterior lobe, it cannot be called a pituitary adenoma, but it still falls under the category of pituitary tumors.

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Written by Chen Yu Fei
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Are pituitary tumors prone to recurrence?

Pituitary tumors in the brain are benign tumors that grow slowly. When the tumor size is relatively small, there are generally no clear symptoms or signs, and most patients can work, live, and study like normal people. It is recommended to treat pituitary tumors with surgical methods. Most pituitary tumors are benign. If they can be completely removed through microscopic surgery, or through the transnasal transsphenoidal approach, minimally invasive surgery can achieve ideal treatment results and generally will not recur. However, for individual patients with pituitary tumors, if the tumor is malignant, it may easily adhere to surrounding tissues in the early stages, making it difficult to completely remove surgically, thus it is prone to recurrence.