[Diagnostic procedures in diencephalo-hypophyseal insufficiency (author's transl)].
A functional diagnosis of the diencephalohypophyseal system was carried out in patients with Sheehan syndrome, chromophobic adenoma, craniopharyngioma, prolactin-producing pituitary tumours, acromegaly, hypothalamo-pituitary dwarfism and constitutional retardation. A combined insulin  hypoglycaemia/LH-RH/TSH test was performed to define frequency and extent of anterior pituitary insufficiency. With these illnesses, almost generally, a somatotropic insufficiency (except in acromegaly) was found. An impairment of gonadotropic function was often present, in general a pathologic LH-RH test correlating with a more or less developed androgen deficiency. An adrenocorticotropic insufficiency was found in most patients with sheehan syndrome, chromophobic adenoma and craniopharyngioma while in acromegaly and hypothalamo-pituitary dwarfism it was present less frequently, necessitating a substitution with corticoids. The TRH test reflects only incompletely a secondary hypothyroidism, and can be normal with organic processes of the diencephalo-hypophyseal region, making a T3 and T4 estimation in the blood decisive for a thyroid hormone substitution. A clear-cut separation of the hypothalamic from the pituitary cause of the insufficiency is neither possible with the LH-RH nor with the TRH test.
D000172:Acromegaly / Q000175:diagnosis; D000238:Adenoma, Chromophobe / Q000175:diagnosis; D003397:Craniopharyngioma / Q000175:diagnosis; D004393:Dwarfism, Pituitary / Q000175:diagnosis; D004700:Endocrine System Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D005640:Follicle Stimulating Hormone / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007018:Hypopituitarism / Q000175:diagnosis; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis
D007986:Luteinizing Hormone; D005640:Follicle Stimulating Hormone
Endokrinologische Funktionsdiagnostik der hypothalamo-hypophysären Insuffizienz.