What are the types of pituitary tumors?
Most pituitary tumors are not cancerous. About 1,300 pituitary tumors are diagnosed each year. However, because many of these tumors do not cause symptoms or affect health, many are not diagnosed or are found incidentally during routine brain imaging studies. Almost 15 percent to 25 percent of persons with small pituitary tumors will not have any symptoms. Pituitary tumors are classified in several ways. One method is classification is by whether the tumor produces a pituitary hormone and the type of hormone produced. Based on this type of classification, types of pituitary tumors include, but are not limited to, the following: • non-functional adenomas (null cell adenomas) These tumors are the most common type of pituitary tumor. They do not secrete an extra amount of hormone and until they become a certain size, the person does not have any symptoms. When the tumor is large enough, they may cause headaches and vision problems. • prolactin-producing tumors (prolactinomas) These benign
