Tumors not sensitive to hormone manipulation are treated by surgery or radiation. This is a microsurgical approach through the nose to reach the pituitary gland deep inside the head. The average hospital stay is three days to recover from the surgery. The goal of this procedure is to remove the tumor while preserving the remaining pituitary gland, if possible. Radiation treatment options include gamma knife focused radiation beam to treat the tumor and conventional external beam radiotherapy.
Radiation therapy has a higher incidence of hormone deficiency after treatment.
The physicians of Dallas Neurosurgical Associates have extensive experience and expertise in the surgical and gamma knife treatments of pituitary tumors. The physicians treat a referral base of patients from several states in the southwest United States and Mexico. These nerve root compression syndromes result in back or neck pain with associated leg and arm pain. Muscle weakness, numbness and reflex abnormalities may also be present. Herniated discs are the most common disorders that neurosurgeions treat.