Dr. Brian McDonough on Pituitary Glands

NEW YORK -- Most people don’t even know it exists, but there’s little doubt that it may be one of the most important structures in our body.

The pituitary gland sits on the base of the brain and controls almost all the body’s hormones. It does a great job, but when there are tumors of the pituitary they can be devastating.

According to researchers at Johns Hopkins, these tumors often go unrecognized.

The average prevalence of clinically significant tumors is about one in 1,400 individuals.

Why is this important?

Well, the pituitary controls or regulates hormone release in the body and sometimes the symptoms can be subtle like weakness or fatigue or a weight gain or loss.

There are tests to evaluate the pituitary, but in many cases, the tests are not ordered for quite some time.

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