Pituitary Gland Surgery | Zachary Cappello, MD, on Charlotte Today

CEENTA otolaryngologist Dr. Zachary Cappello appeared on WCNC's Charlotte Today to discuss the pituitary gland and pituitary gland surgery. Learn more about Dr. Cappello's services and schedule for his ENT care at our SouthPark location today. 

Transcript of the Interview:

Mia Atkins: This morning, we're talking health and what area few people may not think about unless they're having problems. Dr. Zachary Cappello, an ear, nose and throat physician from CEENTA's SouthPark office, is here now to talk about the pituitary gland. So first off, Doc, for people who are at home right now watching, what is that gland and how exactly does it work?

Dr. Zachary Cappello: So, the pituitary gland is a small, approximately half centimeter gland located in the center of the head, behind the bridge of the nose underneath the brain, that really controls hormones that then control all different aspects of our body, from sexual function to growth to regulating our thyroid gland and our adrenal glands. And it works with the brain to constantly monitor all of the organs that it monitors and the glands that it monitors to determine whether it needs to send hormones or stop sending hormones to control them, respectively.

Mia: And what are some symptoms that people may notice if it's not working properly?

Dr. Cappello: So if it's not working properly, you can notice a whole range of symptoms, whether it's deficient and not producing enough hormone, you can be tired, you can notice weight gain, you can notice temperature fluctuations. If it's producing too much hormones, then you can also have a whole range of symptoms, from decreased libido to issues with growth and blood pressure and blood sugar.

Mia: Okay. And could any of those be a sign that there may be a bigger issue?

Dr. Cappello: Yeah. If you're experiencing any of those issues, you should definitely talk to your doctor specifically for those tumors or for tumors that produce hormone, then you would need to be seen by an endocrinologist to determine those hormone levels and see if there is an issue, and then that would be treated medically. Now, you can also have another subset of tumors that are non-functioning, meaning they do not produce any hormones and they cause problems by just growing and then putting pressure on surrounding structures, which can lead to chronic headaches. It can even lead to blurry vision or even vision loss if it presses on your optic nerve enough. And in that case, you would see myself or a neurosurgeon, we would typically remove those surgically.

Mia: Okay, and it kind of sounds like here, this is something that may just end up happening to you. But overall, some of the things we can do to prevent this happening is just to lead a healthy lifestyle, right?

Dr. Cappello: Yeah, there's no medication that you're going to take to prevent a pituitary disorder, really. Just eating well, getting sleep, and trying to reduce stress in your life as much as possible will lead to better pituitary functioning.

Mia: Right. Which is something that we should all be doing anyway, right?

Dr. Cappello: Definitely.

Mia: Well, if people are watching, they think some of these symptoms sound familiar, or maybe they want to come and see you guys for this. How can they find more information?

Dr. Cappello: Yeah, they can visit us at our South Park location, and we can go through an entire workup for them, look in their nose. We can even perform CT scans and MRIs if we feel those are necessary at our South Park office. We have a whole host of tools at our disposal there. And so it's a great place to come see us if you have any further questions

Mia: And what it sounds like is nothing that you need to worry about or feel stressed about. You guys can definitely help anyone out if this is something that they're dealing with

Dr. Cappello: Exactly.

Mia: Wonderful. Thank you so much for being here.

Dr. Cappello: Thanks for having me on. Thank you.