Patients with a pituitary adenoma in general have impairment in both physical and mental health measures compared with the normal population82. Patients with a non-functioning adenoma however, have a greater impairment in measures of mental function than in physical function compared with the normal population and patients with other pituitary adenomas82.
Page et al. reported impaired quality of life among patients with non-functio-ning pituitary adenoma who were irradiated, in comparison with those who were not irradiated. Patients were more depressed and emotionally affected. It remains unclear, whether these differences are direct effects of radiation therapy or indirect effects due to hormone abnormality or perception of disease severity83. The reasons why radiation therapy was applied were not mentioned in this paper and the differences found can be due to selection bias.
Nielsen et al. used the Short Form and Major depression inventory questionnaires8 to assess quality of life and depression among patients with non-functioning pituitary adenomas. In transsphenoidally operated patients, mental health scores were similar to the general population, while in patients that underwent craniotomy, mental health and mental component scores were lower. Radiation therapy, pituitary status or repeat surgery did not affect these quality of life dimensions. Age at first operation was an independent risk factor for reduced physical functioning. There was no influence of radiation therapy on depression.
Based on these results, it still remains unclear whether quality of life is negatively affected by radiation therapy78.