Pituitary lesions anyone? MRI results

carmstr835

I have been experiencing double vision periodically and mentioned it to my oncologist in December. He suggested I see an eye Doctor. I only see my oncologist every 6 months now, but he does CT scans every 6 months because of all my cysts and lesions. I have several cysts on my liver, they just found a new one this December, now I have 11 cysts on my liver. I also have a 2.6cm cyst on my right adrenal gland they say is adipose tissue. After my radiation, they saw 2 lesions on the upper lobe of my right lung, also turned out to be nothing, in fact they both disappeared after 6 months, but they continue to scan it to be sure, as well as all the other lesions.

I told my PCP about my double vision at my yearly physical appointment this past January and she suggested I move up my eye appointment and also ordered an MRI of my brain. The eye Dr ordered prism eye glasses that really helps alot with my double vision and lessons the strain on my eyes quite a bit. The MRI came back abnormal, showed a 4mm lesion on the pituitary gland and they wanted to do a dedicated pituitary MRI, so they did. That also came back with a 4 MM microadenoma. The issue I am concerned about is, this is the only lesion and the only way to know if it is cancer or not would be to do surgery or wait until it spreads. I don't like either of these. Anyone have any experience with pituitary lesions?

This was the result of the latest MRI:

Impression:

Focal 4 mm lesion along the superior aspect of the pituitary

gland with relative hypoenhancement to the pituitary gland

parenchyma may suggest a small microadenoma. Clinical correlation

and short-term follow-up MRI in 4-6 months is helpful.

I sent a message to my oncologist to let him know. I assume he will get back to me this week. I don't think I want to wait 4-6 months to see if it spreads or grows I already have double vision. Any suggestions or experience anyone has would be helpful!

KBeee

I do have a friend who had a benign pituitary tumor. I can ask her about it when I see her. I do know it was many years ago, and she's been fine since then. I just don't know exactly how they treated it...or whether or not they treated it.

carmstr835

Did she have breast cancer? Most pituitary tumors are not cancer, unless you have had breast or lung cancer, then the possibility of cancer increases dramatically, I read... I just recently accepted a job now that my cancer appointments are every 6 months and surgeries are done, so this is not something I was anticipating and hope that they just want to watch it for a while, but not at a cost of it getting worse. Just wondering what the next steps will be...

carmstr835

Update,

I heard back from my oncologist, his suggestion is to just rescan in 4 months. My primary care Dr is planning hormone blood tests to see if this is a hormone producing tumor. I will go for that next Thursday to combine the hormone blood tests with my regular monthly CBC's.

I also contacted my 2nd opinion Oncologist that has been very helpful on this cancer journey. I did see him right after I was diagnosed back in 2017 and asked him if I could keep him as my 2nd opinion and to run things by him, he agreed. I have periodically sent him emails and asked his opinion that I value very much. I usually abide by his suggestions and have been able to talk my current oncologist into accommodating those wishes. I sent him an email about this issue as well. His suggestion was to get a neurologist to check it out. I then asked him for a referral to a pituitary clinic. I did call to get in after he suggested a neurologist, but they refused to see me without a referral. He sent in my referral so I'm happy to report I will be seeing pituitary neurologist that specialize in this situation.

KBeee

So glad you're being seen by a specialist.

hapa

I had a bout of double vision a few years ago and my MRI showed a small pituitary tumor, which was unrelated to my double vision. According to the neuropthamologist I was seeing, they find these small, asymptomatic pituitary tumors is something like a quarter of autopsies, so there are tons of people walking around with them.

I had no treatment for the double vision, as they could find no cause for it, and it slowly cleared up by itself in around 8 months.

carmstr835

Thanks for the reply Hapa and Kbee.

Glad to hear your pituitary lesions were not anything serious and your double vision improved. I hope mine does the same. I read that lots of pituitary tumors are found in autopsies as well. I also read contradictions to that statement. I just hope the pituitary clinic agrees iand it is nothing to worry about. I will post when I hear more. I just wish I knew why my body makes so many cysts.