“Your body holds deep wisdom. Trust in it. Learn from it. Nourish it. Watch your life transform and be healthy.”

– Bella Bleue 

PNA Spotlight: Dr. Yuval Eisenberg

This month the PNA Spotlight shines on Dr. Yuval Eisenberg.  Dr. Eisenberg graduated from Rush Medical College at Rush University Medical Center in 2009. He works in Chicago, IL and two other locations and specializes in internal medicine as well as endocrinology, diabetes & metabolism. Dr. Eisenberg is also affiliated with the University of Illinois Hospital Health & Science Center.  He was kind enough to answer some of our questions:

 

What inspired you to choose your career path?

My career path was guided by my interaction with patients and my mentors. The highlight of my medical school training was helping to diagnose a young man suffering from multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN1), a rare genetic disorder causing multiple tumors, including a pituitary adenoma. Listening to his concerns and thinking outside the box, I helped provide him with the correct diagnosis and treatment plan – and started my journey into endocrinology. I have been fortunate to work with excellent clinician-educators in my career. Learning about and observing the care of patients with endocrine-related problems was fascinating and rewarding. The farther I got in my training, the more I realized that endocrinology was my passion and that patients with pituitary disorders would be my sub-focus. Patients with pituitary disease are a unique population who are in need of education, support and reassurance at diagnosis – and they often require long-term follow-up. This allows for time to develop a bond of trust; an aspect of medical practice I thoroughly enjoy.

Read More Here

 

Safeguarding the nose during pituitary tumor surgery

Pituitary tumors are typically removed through the nose during endoscopic transnasal transsphenoidal surgery. Although minimally invasive, that approach requires expertise to minimize surgical trauma to the nose. Fortunately, surgeons are using new techniques that help safeguard the nose and maximize patients’ quality of life after surgery.

“The tendency now is to be less invasive in the approach through the nose,” explains Dr. Carlos D. Pinheiro Neto, a Mayo Clinic ENT/head and neck surgeon. “A very aggressive approach can cause chronic nasal crusting and infections, scabbing, decreased sense of smell and taste, and changes in the nose’s appearance.”

In endoscopic transnasal transsphenoidal surgery, a small surgical camera and surgical instruments are placed through the nostrils to access the tumor through the sinuses. Mayo Clinic was among the first institutions to extensively research the approach. As initially developed, the procedure involved extensive nasal resection.

“The idea was to create a maximum opening of the sinuses to allow neurosurgeons to reach and remove the tumor from the skull base,” Dr. Pinheiro Neto says. “The nasal physiology and sinus symptoms after the surgery were not a priority — the nose was just a corridor to the tumor.”

Now, Dr. Pinheiro Neto is pioneering surgical techniques that minimize resection of the nasal and sinus structures. One involves leaving intact the middle turbinate, which plays important roles in nasal airflow, warming and filtering air to the lungs, and smelling. Another is using a nasal-floor graft to provide a seal between the nose and brain after tumor removal. The standard procedure when cerebrospinal fluid leaks during surgery involves a nasal septal flap created from the septum — the tissue that separates the nostrils’ two airways.

“Nasal graft is much better for patients. It avoids the exposure of the nasal septum cartilage, so there is less crusting and faster healing,” Dr. Pinheiro-Neto says. “Nasal septal flaps can also cause a structural collapse in the nasal bridge and increase the risk of septal perforations. Since changing our paradigm from nasal septal flap for pituitary surgery, our leak rate is 0.1%.”

The new techniques are based on research conducted in Mayo Clinic’s anatomy laboratory. Those lessons are translated to the operating room, where ENT/head and neck surgeons routinely work alongside neurosurgeons to remove pituitary tumors.

“That research has allowed us to achieve the same level of tumor resection and treatment outcomes, but with fewer complications,” Dr. Pinheiro-Nato says. “With time and experience, we have realized it’s possible to preserve most of the nose and still get good space in the back of the sinus for tumor removal.

“This is about improving patients’ quality of life,” Dr. Pinheiro-Neto says. “They can have a nasal procedure but after a few weeks of healing, the nose and nasal physiology, and the sinuses, are as good as ever before.”

Stanford Hosts Pituitary Patient Education Day

Stanford University invites the public to their free pituitary patient education day, to be held both in-person and via zoom on Saturday November 9th, 2024. The event will run from 8am-5pm and will take place in the Assembly Hall at Stanford Hospital.

The course co-directors include neurosurgeon Juan C. Fernandez-Miranda, MD (a longtime member of the PNA), and endocrinologist Julia Chang, MD. Topics to be discussed include the function of the pituitary gland, endonasal endoscopic surgery, cavernous sinus surgery, radiotherapy, Cushing’s, acromegaly, prolactinoma and more.

Click To Sign Up Here

Featured News and Updates

News Articles June 2025

News Articles June 2025

New imaging tool to diagnose Cushing’s?

An article in Cushing’s Disease News looks at a study that find that a new form of PET scan, alongside a CT  scans can detect tumors that produce ACTH, common in Cushing’s disease. Read more:

https://cushingsdiseasenews.com/news/imaging-technique-found-accurately-id-cushings-pituitary-tumors/

Exercise and hormonal health

An article in mindbodygreen.com examines the effect of exercise on your hormones. Read more: https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/how-high-intensity-exercise-impacts-cortisol-and-other-hormones

Pituitary patient describes afterlife following near-death experience

A story on MSN.com relates the experiences of Brianna Lafferty, a pituitary patient who was clinically dead for 8 minutes. She now works as a transition guide. Read more here:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/woman-who-died-for-8-minutes-claims-death-is-an-illusion-as-she-recalls-afterlife/ar-AA1FuWo5

Research Articles

June 2025 Research Articles

Pituitary Tumors

Effect of antineoplastic drug therapies on carcinoma and aggressive pituitary tumors: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Cardoso ABR, Zimmermann AC, Raverot G, Nunes-Nogueira VDS.Pituitary. 2025 Jun 2;28(3):70. doi: 10.1007/s11102-025-01541-0.

Impulse control disorders in pituitary adenoma: What do we know and what we still don’t know in almost two decades?

Kadioglu P, Glezer A.Pituitary. 2025 Jun 2;28(3):71. doi: 10.1007/s11102-025-01533-0.

Effect of antineoplastic drug therapies on carcinoma and aggressive pituitary tumors: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Cardoso ABR, Zimmermann AC, Raverot G, Nunes-Nogueira VDS.Pituitary. 2025 Jun 2;28(3):70. doi: 10.1007/s11102-025-01541-0. 

Impulse control disorders in pituitary adenoma: What do we know and what we still don’t know in almost two decades?

Kadioglu P, Glezer A.Pituitary. 2025 Jun 2;28(3):71. doi: 10.1007/s11102-025-01533-0.

Clinico-pathological and molecular characteristics of pediatric-juvenile pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs): A mono-institutional series.

Buccoliero AM, Giunti L, Ponticelli A, Innocenti L, Ricci F, Cetica V, Tirinnanzi B, Moscardi S, Stagi S, Sardi I, Mussa F, Genitori L, Scagnet M.Clin Neuropathol. 2025 Jun 2. doi: 10.5414/NP301685. Online ahead of print.

Pituitary Surgery


Use of a Septal Stapler to Secure a Septal Free Mucosal Graft to the Nasoseptal Flap Donor Site Following Endoscopic Endonasal Resection of a Pituitary Adenoma.

Miller JE, Fischer JL, Wang MB.J Neurol Surg Rep. 2025 Apr 23;86(2):e98. doi: 10.1055/a-2531-6140. eCollection 2025 Apr.

Hormonal health

The effect of MDMA on anterior pituitary hormones: a secondary analysis of a randomized placebo-controlled trial.

Atila C, Camerin SJ, Liechti ME, Christ-Crain M.Endocr Connect. 2025 Jun 1:EC-25-0254. doi: 10.1530/EC-25-0254. Online ahead of print.

Combined pituitary hormone deficiency with a novel GLI2 frameshift variant.

Matsuo Y, Adachi N, Mukai T, Kato S, Kato M, Tanaka H.Pediatr Int. 2025 Jan-Dec;67(1):e70082. doi: 10.1111/ped.70082.PMID: 40457737 No abstract available.

Effect of pubertal induction with combined gonadotropin therapy on testes development and spermatogenesis in males with gonadotropin deficiency: a cohort study.

Castro S, Ng Yin K, d’Aniello F, Alexander EC, Connolly E, Hughes C, Martin L, Prasad R, Storr HL, Willemsen RH, Dunkel L, Butler G, Howard SR.Hum Reprod Open. 2025 May 13;2025(2):hoaf026. doi: 10.1093/hropen/hoaf026. eCollection 2025.

Long-term pituitary function following transsphenoidal surgery for non-functional pituitary neuroendocrine tumor with apoplexy: a single-center retrospective analysis.

Zou D, Yang Y, Gao R, Ou Y, Luo J, Zhang Z, Yang T, Cheng J.Sci Rep. 2025 Jun 1;15(1):19226. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-03053-0.

Safety and efficacy of endoscopic vs. microscopic approaches in pituitary adenoma surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Al-Dardery NM, Khaity A, Soliman Y, Ali MOM, Zedan EM, Muyasarah K, Elfakhrany MD.Neurosurg Rev. 2025 Jun 1;48(1):471. doi: 10.1007/s10143-025-03600-3.

 

Hormonal Health

The effect of MDMA on anterior pituitary hormones: a secondary analysis of a randomized placebo-controlled trial.

Atila C, Camerin SJ, Liechti ME, Christ-Crain M.Endocr Connect. 2025 Jun 1:EC-25-0254. doi: 10.1530/EC-25-0254. Online ahead of print.

Combined pituitary hormone deficiency with a novel GLI2 frameshift variant.

Matsuo Y, Adachi N, Mukai T, Kato S, Kato M, Tanaka H.Pediatr Int. 2025 Jan-Dec;67(1):e70082. doi: 10.1111/ped.70082.

 

Count on your Xeris CareConnection™ Team for unparalleled Cushing’s Support

Cushing’s can be challenging, but there is support so patients can feel like themselves again. The main goal of treating Cushing’s is to get cortisol levels back to normal. This Pituitary Awareness Month, Xeris Pharmaceuticals® is highlighting the importance of one-on-one support for patients living with Cushing’s Syndrome and support for HCPs treating Cushing’s Syndrome.

Sign up to get dedicated support:

Patients: Sign up for support | Recorlev® (levoketoconazole)

HCP’s: Connect with Xeris support | RECORLEV® (levoketoconazole)

Have more questions? Call for more support at 1-844-444-RCLV (7258)

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