what is the pituitary gland most likely to do
What is the pituitary gland?
...and what does it do?
Your pituitary gland is about the size of a pea and is situated in a bony hollow, but behind the bridge of your nose. It is attached to the base of operations of your brain by a thin stalk. The pituitary gland is oftentimes called the master gland because information technology controls several other hormone glands in your torso, including the thyroid and adrenals, the ovaries and testicles.
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What does the pituitary gland practise?
It secretes hormones from both the front end part (anterior) and the back role (posterior) of the gland. Hormones are chemicals that carry letters from one cell to some other through your bloodstream.
If your pituitary gland is not producing sufficient amounts of ane or more hormones this is called hypopituitarism.
If, on the other hand, you are over-producing certain hormones, and so you would accept features due to the over product of the specific hormone concerned.
For more data nearly the pituitary gland and more, as well as educational resource, visit the Society for Endocrinology's 'You lot and Your Hormones' website
The hypothalamus
The hypothalamus, which controls the pituitary by sending messages, is situated immediately above the pituitary gland.
This serves as a communications centre for the pituitary gland, past sending messages or signals to the pituitary in the form of hormones which travel via the bloodstream and nerves down the pituitary stalk. These signals, in plough, control the production and release of further hormones from the pituitary gland which signal other glands and organs in the body.
The hypothalamus influences the functions of temperature regulation, food intake, thirst and h2o intake, slumber and wake patterns, emotional behaviour and memory.
What can go wrong with my pituitary gland?
The most common trouble with the pituitary gland occurs when a benign neoplasm (used to describe a 'growth'), also called an adenoma, develops.
Pituitary tumours are non 'brain tumours'. The term benign is used by doctors to describe a swelling which is not cancerous. Some pituitary tumours can be for years without causing symptoms and some will never produce symptoms.
Virtually pituitary tumours occur in people with no family history of pituitary problems and the condition is not usually passed on from generation to generation. Merely very occasionally are tumours inherited - for example, in a condition known as multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN1).
By far the most common type of tumour (about half of all cases) is the 'non-functioning' tumour.
This is a tumour which doesn't produce any hormones itself. It tin can crusade headaches and visual problems or information technology tin press on the pituitary gland, causing it to stop producing the required amount of one or more of the pituitary hormones. This effect can also occur following handling you are given for a tumour, such as surgery or radiotherapy.
Alternatively, your pituitary tumour may brainstorm to generate likewise much of one or more hormones.
The more mutual pituitary conditions include acromegaly, Cushing's, diabetes insipidus, hypogonadism, hypopituitarism and prolactinoma.
Click here for more information almost these and other pituitary atmospheric condition >
Pituitary surgery
Many pituitary issues are caused by a benign tumour and an performance is often the best course of action - and surgical methods are continually improving.
We tin can reassure you that surgery carried out by a specialist neurosurgeon is safe and a relatively straightforward procedure.
Most tumours are removed by making a pocket-size incision inside your nostril, or under the upper lip. This surgery is called 'transsphenoidal surgery'. Past using this route, the surgeon can see your pituitary without disturbing the main part of your brain.
The performance volition normally require virtually 5 days in infirmary and you should be upward and nigh the day after surgery, eating normally. You lot will exist on a drip for a twenty-four hours or two and may also be given antibiotics to forestall whatever infection in your nose. Recovery times do vary according to the individual, with an boilerplate of maybe 4 to eight weeks off from work, if employed.
Sometimes pituitary tumours need other surgical approaches and for this and for farther and more detailed data please read our Surgery & Radiotherapy Booklet.
Radiotherapy for pituitary conditions
This follow-upwardly handling is sometimes used equally a follow upwardly to surgery, or it can be recommended instead of surgery.
Delight exist bodacious that the use of radiotherapy does not hateful that you lot accept cancer.
Most radiotherapy is accomplished over several weeks with an initial visit to have an individual mask made which guides the radiotherapist accurately to where the X-rays will be focussed. Radiotherapy can also be given in a focused beam (eastward.grand. 'Gamma knife' or 'X-knife-Linac') every bit a single treatment, but this is not appropriate for all tumours.
For further and more detailed data please read our Surgery & Radiotherapy Booklet.
Medical therapy Most people with a pituitary condition will require treatment with drugs, either on their own or in addition to surgery and/ or radiotherapy. These drugs may be used to reduce the levels of a hormone that your pituitary is overproducing, or to supplant a hormone that your pituitary is nether producing.
Please see our following section on hormones.
Follow-up treatment for pituitary conditions
Most people with a pituitary neoplasm and/ or condition volition have regular check-ups at a specialist endocrine clinic for the remainder of their life.
These check-ups enable the specialist to monitor your condition and pick upwards whatever changes as soon as possible. In most patients their condition remains stable after initial treatment(south).
Regrowth of a pituitary neoplasm can occasionally occur if it was not possible to remove the entire neoplasm during surgery. The chance of this happening is lower if yous had radiotherapy after your operation. If regrowth does occur, you may demand some other operation, or radiotherapy; all cases are individual and can vary.
Source: https://www.pituitary.org.uk/information/what-is-the-pituitary-gland/
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