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Pituitary Tumor Program

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Pituitary Tumor Program

At Baptist Health, we understand the complexities of pituitary tumor treatment. Our pituitary tumor program includes a team of specialists highly skilled in diagnosing and treating pituitary tumors.

Our experts work together to develop a treatment plan personalized to you, which may include the most advanced and minimally invasive surgical procedures.

Our Approach to Pituitary Tumor Care

Our Approach to Pituitary Tumor Care

When you come to Baptist Health for pituitary tumor care, you can expect:

  • A team dedicated to treating your pituitary tumor safely and with great precision, without rushing into an unnecessary surgery
  • Seamless collaboration among multiple specialists, all with the goal of providing more personalized and effective treatment
  • Minimally invasive surgical options and intraoperative imaging technology that surgeons use to confirm complete tumor removal

What Are Pituitary Tumors?

A pituitary tumor is an irregular growth of cells in the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland is a pea-sized gland in the skull behind the nose that produces hormones responsible for growth, metabolism and reproduction.

Most pituitary tumors are benign (noncancerous). Benign pituitary tumors are called pituitary adenomas. Though rare, pituitary tumors can also be malignant (cancerous). A malignant pituitary tumor is called a pituitary carcinoma.

Some pituitary tumors cause the pituitary gland to produce excessive amounts of growth hormone. These are called functional pituitary tumors. Pituitary tumors can also be considered nonfunctional. These tumors don’t cause excessive hormone production. Nonfunctional pituitary tumors, however, can reduce hormone production.

Types of Pituitary Tumors

At Baptist Health Brain & Spine Care, we treat all types of pituitary tumors, including:

  • ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone)-producing tumors, which can cause Cushing’s disease
  • Growth hormone-producing tumors, which can cause acromegaly
  • Nonfunctional adenomas
  • Prolactin-producing tumors

How Are Pituitary Tumors Diagnosed?

Our team uses the latest diagnostic and imaging tests to diagnose pituitary tumors. These tests include:

We may also use other tests to diagnose a pituitary tumor, check for vision changes that can be caused by a pituitary tumor, or plan for treatment. These tests include:

  • Blood work, including hypothalamic pituitary axis (HPA) testing, to determine your exact tumor type or check how well your pituitary gland is working
  • Humphrey visual field (HVF) testing to evaluate your current vision status

How Are Pituitary Tumors Treated?

At Baptist Health Brain & Spine Care, we take a team approach to treating pituitary tumors. This team, which includes specialists from a variety of departments, meets monthly to discuss new and current patients.

Working together, we come up with a treatment recommendation, which your neurologist will discuss with you. Our goal is to find the best and safest treatment plan based on your tumor type and symptoms. Treatments may include:

  • If you’ve been diagnosed with a pituitary tumor but aren’t experiencing symptoms, you may not require any immediate treatment. However, we will request that you schedule a follow-up in six months. At that time, your doctor will ask about symptoms and may order additional imaging and bloodwork to determine whether your tumor has grown.

  • If your pituitary tumor is causing symptoms, your care team may recommend medication. Medications used to treat pituitary tumors work by blocking or stimulating hormone production, reducing inflammation or shrinking the size of your tumor.

  • If your pituitary tumor returns after treatment, our team may recommend radiation therapy. We work closely with Baptist Health Cancer Care to provide traditional radiation treatments, as well as proton therapy.

  • Surgery is another pituitary tumor treatment option. Surgery is often combined with medication therapy. If you need surgery, your Baptist Health team will use the least-invasive option so you can recover quickly and get back to the things you enjoy.

    Our team also uses intraoperative MRI. This allows our neurosurgeons to assess how much of your tumor is removed during the procedure.

    After surgery, our team will test your tumor to determine if additional treatment is needed.

Frequently Asked Questions About Pituitary Tumors

  • Many people who have pituitary tumor surgery can go home the next day. Your doctor will schedule a follow-up visit for six or eight weeks after your surgery. If you need radiation therapy, those treatments will begin four to six weeks after surgery is completed and incisions are healed.

  • The risks associated with pituitary surgery are very low and include the standard risks associated with anesthesia or infection at the surgical site.

Meet the Pituitary Tumor Program Team

Our pituitary tumor program team includes neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuro-radiologists, neuro-endocrinologists, radiation oncologists and neuro-otologists.

Our Locations

Our Pituitary Tumor Program is available throughout Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties. Find a location near you.

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