OK, time for mini-medical school:
There's panhypopituitarism that's an intrinsic condition in which the whole
gland malfunctions or shuts down on it's own, from a stroke (Sheehan's is a
"partial" type of this) or radiation to the brain for a tumor in a
different part of the brain, or something.
Then there's panhypopituitarism from having a pituitary tumor removed.
Pituitary adenomas are "benign" in that they don't metastasize, but they
can get big enough to press on other structures, like the optic chiasm
(which causes visual field defects), or they can have hyperfunction, one
symptom of which is galactorrhea. The neurosurgeon uses a trans-sphenoidal
approach to remove part or most of the tumor/gland. Yep, you read that
right, they go up through the nost through the sphenoid sinus. Folks
who've had this surgery often do have to be onmultiple replacement hormones
afterwards. Residual function and whether fertility/lactation are affected
depends on how much they take out.
Clear as mud? I'll end the lecture here.
Becky Saenz, MD, IBCLC
Family Physician (not a neurosurgeon, but there's one at my hospital that
does this surgery)
Jackson, MS - where he started doing that surgery in about 1984, I think
At 06:14 AM 04/28/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>Denny writes:
>
>>Guys, someone's pulling your leg. The only way to remove the pituitary
>>gland is from a cadaver.
>
> I had a student in Mississippi in 1985 who told me she had had her
>pituitary removed and to surprise of everyone, she got pregnant and had a
>healthy baby the following year. Her doctor had told her she would never be
>able to have children, so she wasn't using birth control! Didn't ask her
>about breastfeeding . . . .
>
>If it is impossible to remove a pituitary, then why are people being told
>this is what was done to them?
>
>Kathy Dettwyler
>
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