Pituitary Tumor Health Video

Pituitary tumors, or adenomas, often go undiagnosed and are classified according to the hormones secreted. Learn more about pituitary tumors, including symptoms and treatments, in this health video.

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About this Author

Dr. Sewell joined On Call Medical Group after serving as the Medical Director of the Samaritan House in San Mateo. Dr. Sewell continues his community service and out reach work by acting locally. Dr. Sewell strives to provide the most comprehensive, personalized, and convenient medical care possible. He is dedicated to meeting each patient's individual needs and health care goals. Dr. Sewell has served the San Francisco Bay area as a house call doctor, he spends time with his patients to get to the root cause of their issues and concerns. He has worked with the elderly and continues in Internal Medicine with adult patients. Dr. Sewell's educational background includes Duke University BSE Biomedical/Electrical engineering; Georgetown University Masters in Biophysics and Physiology; Virginia Commonwealth University MD degree; California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, Internal medicine internship and residency. Dr. Sewell is versed in Spanish and is an expert in the field of Travel Medicine.

CLIFFORD SEWELL, MD: Hello. I'm Dr. Clifford Sewell. A brief message about pituitary tumor. The pituitary gland is located deep within the brain. It's quite a small gland but is responsible for quite a number of important metabolic and endocrine functions in the body. The pituitary gland is responsible for cortisol secretion which regulates body metabolism. It's also responsible for growth hormone. A common presentation for someone with a pituitary tumor would be acromegaly. Acromegaly is an overproduction of human growth hormone at an early stage of development. The tissue becomes large and exaggerated. The person generally presents as several standard deviations taller than the norm for that age group in adolescents; large hands, protuberant forehead, and tall stature. These are all symptoms and signs of pituitary tumor. The treatment for pituitary is surgical. They do a surgery which is transsphenoidal resection of the pituitary tumor followed by radiation if the tumor happens to be metastatic or cancerous. Following the surgery, the patient will require hormone replacement for the hormones that are destroyed during the surgery. Fortunately, most of the pituitary tumors are benign and with hormone replacement, the patient will lead a completely healthy and happy normal life.