Pituitary conditions are when something goes wrong with your pituitary gland. These health issues can happen because of damage to your gland or, more often, a benign (not cancerous) growth called a tumor. 

Doctors call the pituitary the master gland because it controls many of the other glands of your body. The thyroid, testicles, ovaries, and adrenal glands get these signals and release hormones.

It also releases hormones, including:

• Adrenocorticotropic hormone: Controls the body's response to stress by making cortisol and androgens
• Follicle-stimulating hormone: Controls sexual growth and reproduction in both males and females
• Growth hormone: Controls growth and metabolism
• Luteinizing hormone: In men, it controls testosterone. In women, it triggers ovulation and controls hormones from the ovaries
• Prolactin: Controls breast growth and lactation
• Thyroid-stimulating hormone: Controls metabolism, heart, and digestive functions, among others

Abnormal growths in your pituitary gland can cause you to have too much or too little of one of these hormones. They can also affect other body parts controlled by these hormones.

Growths

Growths called tumors are the most common pituitary disorder. They're most often benign (not cancerous) and slow-growing. Up to 20% of people have these tumor—most don't cause symptoms. 

Cysts

Cysts are fluid-filled sacs in the brain. They're not cancer. They can cause symptoms but are uncommon. Two of the most common cysts are:

• Rathke's cleft cyst: A fluid-filled growth that happens before birth
• Sellar arachnoid cyst: A rare, benign, fluid-filled mass that can form from a pocket of the membrane that protects the brain

Empty sella syndrome

Empty sella syndrome is when the space where the pituitary is fills with spinal fluid. The fluid pushes the pituitary into the inside walls of the cavity, flattening it. It's possible to wholly or partially lose pituitary function, but most people's pituitary functions normally.

Hypopituitarism

When the pituitary doesn't make enough of certain hormones, doctors call this pituitary insufficiency (hypopituitarism). We can replace these hormones with medicines.

Hypophysitis

A rare condition where the pituitary gland becomes swollen or inflamed. It can affect how your body makes and balances hormones. Symptoms may include tiredness, vision changes, or hormone problems like low energy or missed periods.

Pituitary tumors happen when the cells in the pituitary grow and divide to make a mass. There are 2 groups: benign growths and cancer. 

Benign tumors 

Benign tumors aren't cancerous. They grow very slowly. They can have outsized effects on the body by making too much or too little hormones. 

• Benign pituitary adenomas: Also called a pituitary neuroendocrine tumor, or "pit-net." This is the most common type of tumor and is almost always benign.
• Craniopharyngiomas: These rare, benign tumors grow at the base of the brain.
• Pituitary meningioma: Another rare, benign tumor, that can grow near the optic nerves.

Cancerous growths

Cancerous growths may grow larger, faster, and spread to other areas of the brain and body. Very few pituitary tumors are cancerous. Two types of cancerous tumors are:

• Secondary pituitary cancers: Cancer from another body part spreads to the pituitary. Also called metastases or metastatic pituitary cancer.
• Primary pituitary cancers: Typically, pituitary carcinomas. These are rare malignant tumors. They can spread to other body parts, such as the brain, spinal cord, or bone.

Functioning or nonfunctioning?

Sometimes, the cells that make up a tumor make hormones. Doctors call these functioning (or secreting) tumors. The cells of a functioning pituitary tumor make one or more hormones in large amounts. The extra hormones can cause a wide variety of symptoms.

Tumors that don't make hormones are nonfunctioning. Even a nonfunctioning tumor can impede the gland's ability to make hormones if it grows large enough. Large nonfunctioning tumors can also cause headaches, vision problems, and other symptoms.

Conditions caused by functioning pituitary growths 

Hormonal changes caused by functional tumors can cause a wide variety of symptoms. Symptoms of the most common functional tumors include:

• Too much growth hormone: Known as acromegaly in adults and gigantism in kids. The body's bones, cartilage, organs, and tissues increase in size. This can lead to large noses, ears, hands, and feet. Children may end up abnormally tall.
• Too much adrenocorticotropic hormone: The adrenal glands can make too much cortisol, leading to Cushing's syndrome.
• Too much prolactin (prolactinoma): Causes menstrual changes, sex hormone deficiencies, and infertility. It can induce lactation or cause milky discharge from the nipples.

Often, doctors will find small pituitary tumors during an unrelated MRI. These usually don't cause symptoms, so we can follow a watch-and-wait approach—doing another imaging scan later to ensure it's not growing. Many of these tumors don't grow.

Medicines

If you have low hormone levels, your doctor can give you medicine to bring the levels back to normal. 

There's medicine to treat most pituitary tumors that release hormones. Most people can take lower hormone levels and shrink the tumor with these medicines. You have to take these medicines for life because they don't kill the tumor cells. 

If your secreting tumor doesn't respond to medicine, or you have side effects from it, you may need surgery. Some rare secreting tumors don't have medicines that can treat them.

Surgery

There are 2 main times that surgery is an option for pituitary tumors. The first is when your tumor makes excess hormone, but there isn't medicine for it. The second is if it might cause vision problems.

Most people who have a pituitary tumor can have surgery using the endoscopic endonasal approach, which removes the tumor through the nose and sinuses. These use a thin, tube with a light, camera, and tools to remove the tumor.

If your surgeons can't access the tumor this way, they'll do open brain surgery.

Radiation 

Radiation uses high-energy beams to kill tumor cells or control the tumor growth. Stereotactic radiosurgery, often using the CyberKnife, can help shrink a tumor. This is a good option if you cannot have surgery or if the tumor comes back after surgery.