Pituitary Tumour Surgery Cost in India

  • The glands that secrete “hormones” make up the endocrine system in humans. One such master gland is the pituitary, which is situated directly behind the nose at the base of the brain. The pituitary regulates hormone levels and functions as a supervisory gland for the other endocrine system glands. This master gland secretes a variety of vital glands, some of which are mentioned below.
  • Hormone ADH (adrenocorticotropic hormone)
  • Hormone antidiuretic (ADH)
  • The hormone that stimulates follicles (FSH)
  • Hormone of growth Oxytocin
  • Prolactin
  • Hormone that stimulates the thyroid (TSH)
  • A benign growth that develops in the pituitary gland is called a pituitary tumour. This gland is a tiny organ that is comparable in size to a pea. It is located behind the nose, close to the base of the brain.
  • A number of these tumours cause the pituitary gland to overproduce specific hormones that are essential for the regulation of vital body functions. The pituitary gland may produce insufficient amounts of those hormones due to other factors.
  • India offers Pituitary Tumour Treatment at a Lower Cost Compared to the US, UK, and Russia.
  • Patients seeking treatment for pituitary tumours in India have access to the best facilities. These facilities offer top-notch medical equipment, reasonably priced healthcare plans, and the guarantee of top-notch medical personnel.

Pituitary Tumour Types

Non-functional/non-secretory tumours: These hormonally silent tumours grow quickly to the point where they elevate and extend the optic nerves as well as other brain nerves. Since these tumours do not produce an overabundance of hormones to indicate their presence, they have the potential to become quite large.

Usually, when compression symptoms are observed, they are diagnosed. The normal hormone production of the pituitary gland may also be disrupted by non-functioning tumours.

Some of the symptoms of Non-Secretory Tumours include:

  • Loss of peripheral vision
  • Decreased energy
  • Hair loss
  • Low blood pressure
  • Weight gain
  • Impotence
  • Menstrual irregularity

Secretory tumours and functioning tumours: Functioning tumours are defined as those that overproduce a particular hormone, each of which has a unique set of symptoms. The hormone that functioning/secretory pituitary tumours secrete gives rise to its name. The most prevalent type of pituitary tumour is called prolactin (PRL) tumour. PRL encourages women to breastfeed. Overproduction of PRL is caused by PRL tumours.

Symptoms of PRL Tumours include:

  • Irregular menstrual cycles or cessation of menses (amenorrhea)
  • Loss of body hair
  • Decreased Sex Drive
  • Growth Hormone (GH) Tumours
  • Inappropriate production of milk
  • In men, excess PRL leads to impotence, infertility, and erectile dysfunction.

Symptoms for GH Hormones:

  • Excessive production in children causes gigantism
  • Acromegaly: leads to enlargement of the hands, feet, and jaw
  • Diabetes mellitus
  • Hypertension
  • Some develop colon polyps and cancer.
  • Degenerative arthritis
  • Excess sweating
  • Coarsened facial features
  • Misaligned teeth

Among other things, growth hormone aids the body in coping with illness and stress. 15% of pituitary tumours are caused by ACTH tumours. Women are more likely than men to develop pituitary tumours.

Numerous factors, including the overuse of frequently prescribed drugs containing steroids, can lead to Cushing’s syndrome. Symptoms of an ACTH tumour include hypertension, excessive hair growth, depression, osteoporosis, stretch marks, bruises, and an accentuated round face.

TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) tumour: TSH causes the thyroid gland to secrete thyroid hormone, which controls metabolism. In comparison to other pituitary tumours, TSH tumours are extremely uncommon.

Symptoms of Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) Tumours:

  • Excess production leads to hyperthyroidism
  • Sudden weight loss
  • Rapid or irregular heartbeat
  • Nervousness or irritability

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Pituitary Tumour Treatment Cost in India

  • In India, the starting cost of affordable pituitary tumour treatment is around USD 4,000. 
  • One will spend four days in the hospital and seven more days out of it after receiving pituitary tumour treatment in India.
  • India is one of the world’s most popular travel destinations for medical tourism. The quality and standard of medical care and services are comparable to those of the best hospitals in the world.
  • This is just one of the many reasons why people come to India for medical treatment from all over the world.
  • Evaluations of vision, blood and urine tests, computerized tomography (CT) scans, or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are tests required to determine pituitary tumours.
  • India provides the most affordable healthcare services worldwide without sacrificing quality. Patients can take back control of their lives by choosing to have private surgery and healthcare performed abroad in India.

Factors Influencing the Price of Treatment for Pituitary Macro Adenoma

  • The hospitalized individual chooses.
  • Standard single room, deluxe room, or super deluxe room for the number of nights indicated (meals, room rate, room service, nursing fee, and other charges included).
  • Intensive Care Unit,
  • Payment to the medical team
  • Pharmaceuticals
  • Routine diagnostic and testing protocols

Depending on the treatment options:

  • Surgery.
  • Radiation therapy.

Symptoms of Excess Hormone Production

  • Excessive production of prolactin induces lactation, which leads to either amenorrhea or oligomenorrhea or the release from breastfeeding.
  • Absence of manses May Indicate Fertility Problems.
  • Increased growth hormone production Resulting in Gigantism in Children and Acromegaly in adults.
  • ACTH-producing tumours Generate excess cortisol Resulting in Cushing’s syndrome along with weight gain, stretch marks around the Stomach, Higher blood Glucose, Higher blood pressure, hirsutism.
  • Elevated TSH, is associated with stress, anger, fast heartbeat, loss of weight, and increased sweating.

Cushing’s syndrome is a medical condition characterized by elevated cortisol secreted by ACTH. Symptoms include stretch marks on the abdomen, moon face, buffalo hump, easy bruising, excessive hair growth, and irregular menstruation. These symptoms typically require intensive therapy.

Signs and symptoms owing to Hormone Underproduction

  • Reduced growth hormone production results in children growing later than expected and having weaker bones and muscles.
  • Weak TSH results in weight gain, cold extremities, exhaustion, and sluggishness. There might be a general feeling of low energy.
  • Visual changes or loss: When a tumour grows larger and presses against the optic nerves, the patient may experience changes in vision, such as double vision or only being able to see in the centre of their vision rather than the periphery.
  • Headaches.

Treatment for Pituitary Tumour

  • Pituitary tumours are generally benign and can usually be cured. These tumours do not metastasize, which means they do not spread to other parts of the body.
  • In consultation with the patient, a team comprising an oncologist, neurosurgeon, endocrinologists, and physicians decided on the treatment plan for pituitary tumour treatment in India.

The purpose of pituitary tumour treatment in India is to alleviate symptomatology:

  • A small number of cases can be managed with medication alone; a smaller number may need surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, or a combination of these treatments.
  • Most cases only require monitoring and routine endocrine screening.

In addition to occasionally shrinking specific types of pituitary tumours, medications can aid in preventing excessive hormone secretion. The following are specific blocking agents that the surgeons may employ:

  • Prolactin hormone-producing dopamine agonists such as bromocriptine and cabergoline are used to treat tumours.
  • Bromocriptine and cabergoline are effective treatments for cysts that produce growth hormone. Somatostatin analog is a very useful tool for tumour growth reduction.
  • Pegvisomant effectively inhibits the overproduction of growth hormone.
  • Patients and their physicians are left with no choice but to undergo surgery if blockers prove ineffective. The type, location, size, and whether or not the tumour has spread to neighbouring tissues all affect how effective surgery is. Hormone replacement therapy, such as taking pills or other forms of hormone replacement, is used to treat the damaged pituitary gland.
  • Transsphenoidal Endoscopic Tumour Excision: The pituitary tumour is extracted through the nasal cavity with no visible incisions, assisted by an endoscope and a microscope. Compared to the conventional approach, this technique also necessitates a shorter hospital stay and operating time. 
  • After surgery, the majority of patients stay in the hospital overnight and have a dull headache for several hours to several days. Following surgery, cure rates for small tumours range from 70 to 80 percent. It is more difficult to remove the entire tumour if it is large or has affected nearby brain tissue or eye nerves.
  • High-frequency radiation is used in radiation therapy to kill tumour cells. If the pituitary tumour reappears, treatment is advised.
  • External-beam radiation therapy, in contrast to conventional therapy, involves directing radiation from an external source toward the pituitary. However, there are drawbacks to this therapy, such as the fact that it may take years for the tumor to grow and for hormone production to become fully regulated.
  • Stereotactic Radiosurgery: The most frequently advised surgical procedure is stereotactic radiosurgery.
  • Thanks to this technology, the tumor can be delivered with the least amount of damage to the surrounding healthy tissue by using an intense, high-dose radiation beam that is pointed directly at it. Unfortunately, tumors close to vital nerves—such as the optic nerves—cannot be treated with this therapy.
  • Proton Beam Radiation Therapy: The tumor is the direct target of a proton beam.
  • Fractionated Stereotactic Radiotherapy: This modality uses several therapy sessions with smaller radioactive units to deliver precisely targeted radiation to tumor growth areas.
  • Gamma Knife Radiosurgery: This technique offers the benefit of a single treatment and a high radiation dose delivery with minimal risk to the normal pituitary gland and surrounding visual nerves.
  • Treatment options for complicated cases transcranial tumour removal: This is typically the process for large, intricate tumours.
  • Chemotherapy: This treatment can either stop the pituitary tumours’ excess hormone production or block the hormones’ effects. When the tumour has spread outside of the gland, this is among the best options.

Surgery as treatment

When surgery is necessary, it can be:

Conventional surgery (craniotomy): involves opening the skull, elevating the brain, and removing the tumour.

  • This requires a lengthy recovery period and two months in the hospital. This type of operation carries a great deal of risk, which is usually avoided.

Trans sphenoid surgery strategy: An endoscopic procedure in which the tumour was split and suctioned out of the brain with the aid of a fibreoptic scope that was inserted through the nose and sphenoid sinus.

  • This procedure is usually carried out because it requires only two days of surgery, is much less insecure, and has a quicker healing period.
  • An ICU stay of one day and a two-day hospital stay are typical for transsphenoidal surgery.
  • After surgery, there is usually only mild pain that can be managed with painkillers and goes away in a week.

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Lyfboat is a free advisory platform; we do not charge any fees from patients. In fact, we negotiate the price that Indian hospitals offer. In some cases we are able to reduce the cost by negotiating upto 20% of what Hospitals generally offer. We advise the best treatment from the top hospital/surgeon at best price.

Suitability

The following conditions could make one a candidate for transsphenoidal surgery:

  • Pituitary adenoma: A tumour that develops from the pituitary gland and may or may not secrete hormones is called a pituitary adenoma.
  • Craniopharyngioma: a benign tumour that may invade the third ventricle, it develops from cells close to the pituitary stalk.
  • Rathke’s cleft cyst: A benign cyst, or sac filled with fluid, situated between the anterior and posterior lobes of the pituitary gland is known as a Rathke’s cleft cyst.
  • Meningioma: A meningioma is a tumour that originates from the membrane that surrounds the brain and spinal cord, called the meninges (dura).
  • Chordoma: A cancerous bone tumour called a chordoma grows from the base of the skull.

Surgery might not be necessary if one has a prolactinoma or a small (<10mm) non-secretory tumour. These tumours are amenable to treatment and can be monitored with MRIs regularly to check for tumour growth.

Certain tumours are larger than what can be treated with a transsphenoidal approach. A more thorough craniotomy along with skull base techniques might be required for these tumours.

Benefits of Treatment for Pituitary Tumours

Given that there are various therapies for pituitary adenoma. The precise kind of tumour, its assessment, and its management are easily obtainable. The modern treatments are more efficient and less invasive than the ones from the past, hastening the healing process following surgery.

In India, surgery for pituitary tumours is typically quite successful, but many patients will need to take hormone replacements for the rest of their lives. Patients are recommended to have only sporadic blood tests performed to monitor their hormone levels.

With surgery, tumours of any size and those that have spread to neighbouring structures can now be removed.

Follow-up or Aftercare Treatment

  • A few days following surgery, MRI scans, blood tests, and hormone marker assessments are performed to determine the efficacy of the treatment.
  • After the procedure, screening for these cases must be maintained at regular intervals to evaluate and adjust the treatment plan.
  • When a pituitary tumour is small, not causing any symptoms, not secreting any hormone, and was discovered by coincidence during an imaging scan, treatment is not necessary.

Risks Associated with Pituitary Tumour Surgery

Generally, a safe procedure, but there could be issues like:

  • Leak in cerebral spinal fluid.
  • Meningitis and acute renal failure.

Reasons Why People Choose to Receive Treatment for Pituitary Tumours in India

  • India has some of the greatest healthcare facilities and services in all of Asia, which contributes to the popularity of medical travel there.
  • The top hospital in India for treating pituitary tumours offers cutting-edge technology for all kinds of cancer-related surgeries.
  • In addition, India offers far more reasonable pituitary tumour treatment costs when compared to other states or countries worldwide. Patients from other countries can anticipate paying 50–60% less in total for pituitary tumour treatment in India.
  • Pituitary tumour treatment hospitals in India offer all the necessary care, including thorough pre-operative assessments, minimally invasive surgical options, and post-operative rehabilitation regimens.
  • At these medical facilities, patients can anticipate compassionate care, tailored attention, and personalized treatment.
  • Leading international organizations like the Joint Commission International (JCI) and the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Healthcare Providers (NABH) have accredited the hospitals.

The success rate is higher than 95%, depending on the tumour’s location and size, and the method used for removal. When comparing nominally invasive procedures to open procedures, there may be a slightly lower success rate.

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Dr. Surbhi Suden is one of the founders of Lyfboat and a doctor with a renowned name in the Medical tourism industry. She has been working with international patients since 2008 and is a deeply committed professional with a long term vision of transforming the current healthcare scenarios.
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