Causes of Pituitary Cancer

Causes of Pituitary Cancer (Diseases Database):

The follow list shows some of the possible medical causes of Pituitary Cancer that are listed by the Diseases Database:

• Pituitary tumour (growth hormone secreting)
• Prolactin secreting pituitary tumour
• Cushing's disease

Causes of Pituitary Cancer: Online Medical Books

16 MEDICAL BOOKS ONLINE! Review excerpts from medical books online, free, without registration, for more information about the causes of Pituitary Cancer.

Diabetes insipidus: Causes and incidence
(Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition))

Diabetes insipidus results centrally from intracranial neoplastic or metastatic lesions, hypophysectomy or other neurosurgery, a skull fracture, or head trauma that damages the neurohypophyseal structures. It can also result nephrogenically from infection, granulomatous disease, and vascular lesions; it may be idiopathic and, rarely, familial. (Note: Pituitary diabetes insipidus shouldn’t be confused with nephrogenic diabetes insipidus, a rare congenital disturbance of water metabolism that results from renal tubular resistance to vasopressin.)

Normally, the hypothalamus synthesizes vasopressin. The posterior pituitary gland (or neurohypophysis) stores vasopressin and releases it into general circulation, where it causes the kidneys to reabsorb water by making the distal tubules and collecting duct cells water-permeable. The absence of vasopressin in diabetes insipidus allows the filtered water to be excreted in the urine instead of being reabsorbed.

Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus involves a defect in the parts of the kidneys that reabsorb water back into the bloodstream. It occurs less commonly than central diabetes insipidus. Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus may occur as an inherited disorder in which male children receive the abnormal gene that causes the disease on the X chromosome from their mothers. Nephrogenic diabetes insipidus may also be caused by diseases of the kidney (such as polycystic kidney disease) and the effects of certain drugs (such as lithium and amphotericin B).

Diabetes insipidus is rare, affecting 1 in 25,000 people. Males and females are affected equally.

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Introduction: Malignant Neoplasms: What causes cancer?
(Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition))

Researchers have found that cancer develops from mutations within the genes of cells. Thus, cancer is a genetic disease. Cancer susceptibility genes are of two types. Some are oncogenes, which activate cell division and influence embryonic development, and some are tumor suppressor genes, which halt cell division.

These genes are typically found in normal human cells, but certain kinds of mutations may transform the normal cells. Inherited defects may cause a genetic mutation, whereas exposure to a carcinogen may cause an acquired mutation. Current evidence indicates that carcinogenesis results from a complex interaction of carcinogens and accumulated mutations in several genes.

In animal studies of the ability of viruses to transform cells, some human viruses exhibit carcinogenic potential. For example, the Epstein-Barr virus, the cause of infectious mononucleosis, has been linked to Burkitt's lymphoma and nasopharyngeal cancer.

High-frequency radiation, such as ultraviolet and ionizing radiation, damages the genetic material known as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), possibly inducing genetically transferable abnormalities. Other factors, such as a person's tissue type and hormonal status, interact to potentiate radiation's carcinogenic effect. Examples of substances that may damage DNA and induce carcinogenesis include:

❑alkylating agents — leukemia

❑aromatic hydrocarbons and benzopyrene (from polluted air) — lung cancer

❑asbestos — mesothelioma of the lung

❑tobacco — cancer of the lung, oral cavity and upper airways, esophagus, pancreas, kidneys, and bladder

❑vinyl chloride — angiosarcoma of the liver.

Diet has also been implicated, especially in the development of GI cancer as a result of a high animal fat diet. Additives composed of nitrates and certain methods of food preparation — particularly charbroiling — are also recognized factors.

The role of hormones in carcinogenesis is still controversial, but it seems that excessive use of some hormones, especially estrogen, produces cancer in animals. Also, the synthetic estrogen diethylstilbestrol causes vaginal cancer in some daughters of women who were treated with it. It's unclear, however, whether changes in human hormonal balance retard or stimulate cancer development.

Some forms of cancer and precancerous lesions result from genetic predisposition either directly (as in Wilms' tumor and retinoblastoma) or indirectly (in association with inherited conditions such as Down syndrome or immunodeficiency diseases). Expressed as autosomal recessive, X-linked, or autosomal dominant disorders, their common characteristics include:

❑early onset of malignant disease

❑increased incidence of bilateral cancer in paired organs (breasts, adrenal glands, kidneys, and eighth cranial nerve [acoustic neuroma])

❑increased incidence of multiple primary malignancies in nonpaired organs

❑abnormal chromosome complement in tumor cells.

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Pituitary tumors: Causes and incidence
(Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition))

Although the exact cause is unknown, a predisposition to pituitary tumors may be inherited through an autosomal dominant trait. Pituitary tumors aren't malignant in the strict sense but, because their growth is invasive, they're considered a neoplastic disease.

Chromophobe adenoma may be associated with production of corticotropin, melanocyte-stimulating hormone, growth hormone (GH), and prolactin; basophil adenoma, with evidence of excess corticotropin production and, consequently, with signs of Cushing's syndrome; eosinophil adenoma, with excessive GH.

Pituitary tumors develop in 1 in 10,000 people. About 15% of tumors located within the skull are pituitary tumors.

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Malignant spinal neoplasms: Causes and incidence
(Professional Guide to Diseases (Eighth Edition))

Primary tumors of the spinal cord may be extramedullary (occurring outside the spinal cord) or intramedullary (occurring within the cord itself). Extramedullary tumors may be intradural (meningiomas and schwannomas), which account for 60% of all primary malignant spinal cord neoplasms, or extradural (metastatic tumors from breasts, lungs, prostate, leukemia, or lymphomas), which account for 25% of these malignant neoplasms.

Intramedullary tumors, or gliomas (astrocytomas or ependymomas), are comparatively rare, accounting for only about 10%. In children, they're low-grade astrocytomas.

Spinal cord tumors are rare compared with intracranial tumors (ratio of 1:4). They occur equally in men and women, with the exception of meningiomas, which occur mostly in women. Spinal cord tumors can occur anywhere along the length of the cord or its roots.

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Diabetes insipidus: Causes
(Handbook of Diseases)

Pituitary diabetes insipidus results from intracranial neoplastic or metastatic lesions, hypophysectomy or other neurosurgery, a skull fracture, or head trauma that damages the neurohypophyseal structures. It can also result from infection, granulomatous disease, and vascular lesions; it may be idiopathic and, rarely, familial.

The hypothalamus synthesizes vasopressin. The posterior pituitary gland (or neurohypophysis) stores vasopressin and releases it into the general circulation, where it causes the kidneys to reabsorb water by making the distal tubules and collecting duct cells water-permeable.

In pituitary diabetes insipidus, the absence of vasopressin allows the filtered water to be excreted in the urine instead of being reabsorbed. In renal diabetes insipidus, the kidney doesn’t respond to vasopressin, which is usually present in high concentrations.

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Pituitary tumors: Causes
(Handbook of Diseases)

Although the exact cause is unknown, a predisposition to pituitary tumors may be inherited through an autosomal dominant trait. Some are part of a hereditary disorder called multiple endocrine neoplasia 1. Pituitary tumors aren’t malignant in the strict sense; however, because their growth is invasive, they’re considered a neoplastic disease.

Chromophobe adenoma may be associated with the production of corticotropin, melanocyte-stimulating hormone, growth hormone, and prolactin; basophil adenoma, with evidence of excess corticotropin production and, consequently, with signs of Cushing’s syndrome; and eosinophil adenoma, with excessive growth hormone.

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Pituitary Cancer as a complication of other conditions:

Other conditions that might have Pituitary Cancer as a complication may, potentially, be an underlying cause of Pituitary Cancer. Our database lists the following as having Pituitary Cancer as a complication of that condition:

• Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1

Pituitary Cancer as a symptom:

Conditions listing Pituitary Cancer as a symptom may also be potential underlying causes of Pituitary Cancer. Our database lists the following as having Pituitary Cancer as a symptom of that condition:

• Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1
• Werner syndrome

Related information on causes of Pituitary Cancer:

As with all medical conditions, there may be many causal factors. Further relevant information on causes of Pituitary Cancer may be found in:

• Hidden causes of Pituitary Cancer