Pituitary mass

Advanced Imaging for Early Detection

A pituitary mass (sometims called pituitary tumor) is an abnormal growth which arises from the pituitary gland, which is located at the center of the skull near the middle of the brain. The pituitary gland is responsible for producing many important hormones which are responsible for growth, blood pressure/fluid regulation and reproduction.The majority of pituitary masses are benign and are called pituitary adenomas. The important characteristic is to determine if the pituitary mass is over or underproducing hormones, and this is assessed by blood testing. A pituitary mass that is overproducing hormones is called a 'functioning pituitary adenoma'.Rarely are pituitary masses caused by metastatic disease, or other malignant cancers.