Pituitary and Thyroid Physiology · Physiology

A patient has a large pituitary macroadenoma. Besides endocrine changes, they report losing their peripheral vision. This is due to compression of which structure?

  1. Occipital lobe
  2. Optic chiasm
  3. Superior colliculus
  4. Oculomotor nerve
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Correct answer: Optic chiasm

The pituitary gland sits in the sella turcica, directly below the optic chiasm. Upward expansion of a tumor can compress the crossing fibers of the chiasm, resulting in bitemporal hemianopsia (loss of the outer half of both visual fields).

Difficulty: Medium Question 38 of 40

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