Investigating the relationship between the severity and pattern of headache and the size of pituitary adenomas

Abstract

Pituitary adenoma is the second most common intracranial adenoma, which constitutes about 15% of all primary intracranial neoplasms. One of the symptoms of this adenoma is headache. Considering that headache is one of the symptoms that reduces the quality of life and studies on the incidence of headache in connection with pituitary adenomas have not been conducted in Iran, we decided that a study entitled (determining the severity and pattern of headache) in pituitary adenoma). Materials and methods: In this study, with the aim of investigating (severity and pattern of headache in pituitary adenoma) patients who referred for the first appointment in 2019, who came to private and public medical centers in Tabriz city with the initial complaint of headache and diagnosed with pituitary adenoma. It has been decided according to the entry and exit criteria and we have done the necessary investigations such as: clinical examination, hormonal tests and imaging (MRI of the pituitary gland). 143 people were diagnosed with pituitary adenoma, of which 109 people agreed to cooperate in the study. Due to the fact that patients with pituitary adenoma, the pattern and severity of their headache should be determined in the first place, so the prepared headache questionnaire (HIT6 version 1/1) was filled by the patient to determine the presence or absence of headache and the intensity and pattern of the headache. is specified. Results : In our study, 63% of patients with prolactinoma, 28% with non-functional adenoma, 1.5% with Cushing's and 7.5% with acromegaly. In examining the relationship between gender and the final diagnosis of the cause of headache, a statistically significant relationship between gender and the final diagnosis was seen. Most of the patients with prolactinoma were female (72%). In non-functional adenomas, the number of males was higher (61%). All Cushing's patients were women and 71% of acromegaly were women. A statistically significant relationship was also seen in the examination of the relationship between lesion size and diagnosis. 81% of prolactinoma lesions were microadenomas. 64% of the non-functional lesions of macroadenoma, half of the masses of people with Cushing's disease were microadenoma, and 85% of the lesions of people with acromegaly were macroadenoma.