title: Headache associated with pituitary tumors.
abstract: The objective of this study is to analyze the presence of headache in pituitary tumors and their characteristics, the relationship between pituitary tumor size, biological type, local extension and intrasellar pressure (ISP). This is a prospective study, of 64 consecutive patients presenting with primary pituitary masses at Neuroendocrinological Department of General Hospital of Fortaleza from October 2005 to December 2006. We analyzed sex, age, headache (laterality, site, severity, quality, frequency, duration, associated symptoms, time of onset, trigger, alleviating factors and familial history) and tumor characteristics (type, size, quiasmatic compression, cavernous sinus invasion, sella turcica destruction, cystic or solid mass and ISP). We observed a statistic significant factor between pituitary tumor and tumor size, optic compression, sellar destruction, cavernous sinus invasion and ISP. Biochemical-neuroendocrine factors, mainly in prolactinomas, seem to be an important factor in the determination of headache. The presence of headache in pituitary tumor is related to a combination of factors, including ISP, tumor extension, relationship with the sellar structures, patient predisposition, familial history, and functional disturbance within the hypothalamo-pituitary axis.
authors.affiliation: Neurosurgery Division of Neurosurgery Department, General Hospital of Fortaleza (HGF), CE, Brazil. jackson.gondim@laposte.net
authors.forename: Jackson A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Gondim
authors.forename: João Paulo Cavalcante
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: de Almeida
authors.forename: Lucas Alverne Freitas
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: de Albuquerque
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schops
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gomes
authors.forename: Tânia
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ferraz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002426:Cavernous Sinus / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006261:Headache / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000473:pathology*; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012658:Sella Turcica / Q000473:pathology