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pituitary adenoma
by cityrulez, Feb 29, 2008 10:43AM
I am 40 years old, female. I was first told that I had a tumor on my pituitary gland approximately 17 years ago, but when I went in for my second MRI I was told that their was no tumor. Well, now I am being told that I have the same thing. I do not suffer from headaches, except I do get an occasional sharp pain through my head, but it only lasts for seconds. I have woke up with my eyelid black, once or twice. Anyway, my question is, could they be mistaken again and if so, what could they be seeing there on a CT, but not see by an MRI? Second question; Is surgery necessary? thank you for your time and trouble regarding this.
Sincerely, City
Sincerely, City
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What were the symptoms 17 years ago? the dizziness is usually attributed to the increasing size. There are other symptoms that may be associated with over or underproduction of pituitary hormones. I am more concerned with these - if you had any.
There are case reports of adenomas spontaneously disappearing - hormonal effects are attributed but these cases had hormone problems before and were therefore symptomatic beyond dizziness.
The pituitary has a unique blood supply, and when this is disturbed - the pituitary is destroyed. This may appear as the disappearance- chances are if this is the case, you would have symptoms. But I am concerned that the destruction may only be partial - and the symptoms may take time before they are pronounced. A visit to an endocrinologist may be worthwhile to make sure.
A simpler scenario is that the MRI could better evaluate the brain- it may be possible for the CT to be erroneous in the past. But since you had headaches, it was attributed to the finding in the CT. It could have been large but within the extremes of normal variation.
Did the Radiologists get a chance to examine images from both CT and MRI? They may come up with some other explanations.