[Posttraumatic hypopituitarism].
A 39-year-old woman was admitted with complaints of weight gain, a decreased sense of well-being and amenorrhoea. One and a half year prior to admission she had been involved in a serious road accident and had spent several days in coma due to an epidural haematoma. She was found to have hypopituitarism with deficient somatotropic and gonadotropic axes, as well as mild hyperprolactinaemia, probably due to a pituitary stalk lesion. All patients with severe trauma to the skull are at risk of developing posttraumatic hypopituitarism, so that pituitary function testing should be performed routinely, certainly in the presence of symptoms.
Alwani
R A
RA
Erasmus Medisch Centrum, afd. Inwendige Geneeskunde, Postbus 2040, 3000 CA Rotterdam. ra_alwani@yahoo.com
Feelders
R A
RA
Lamberts
S W J
SW
D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000328:Adult; D000568:Amenorrhea / Q000209:etiology; D006259:Craniocerebral Trauma / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006407:Hematoma, Epidural, Cranial / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007018:Hypopituitarism / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D010901:Pituitary Function Tests; D010903:Pituitary Gland, Anterior / Q000293:injuries; D015430:Weight Gain