title: Primary polydipsia: a case report.
abstract: Primary polydipsia (PP) is etiologically associated with physical factors and psychiatric disorders ("psychogenic polydipsia"). We present the case of a 28-year-old man with severe symptoms of polydipsia and polyuria. After a comprehensive physical assessment, the only finding was a lesion suggestive of pituitary microadenoma in the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of the brain. A thorough clinical and diagnostic assessment and the administration of a wide range of psychometric tools revealed no major psychiatric disorder apart from chronic anxiety and mild depressive symptoms. Our patient's PP symptoms might be associated with a dysfunction of the thirst center, which is located closely to the neuroanatomical lesion found in the MRI scan. Given that the underlying pathophysiology of PP remains, to a large extent, unclear, we emphasize on the difficulties to distinguish between PP's subtypes.
authors.affiliation: 2nd Department of Psychiatry, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, "Attikon" General Hospital, Athens, Greece. ktournikioti@yahoo.gr
authors.forename: Kalliopi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tournikioti
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Voumvourakis
authors.forename: Georgios
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Moussas
authors.forename: Diamantis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Plachouras
authors.forename: Ioannis
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Michopoulos
authors.forename: Athanasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Douzenis
authors.forename: Christos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Christodoulou
authors.forename: Efstratios
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lamboussis
authors.forename: Rossetos
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gournellis
mesh_terms: D000236:Adenoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D059607:Polydipsia, Psychogenic / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D011141:Polyuria / Q000209:etiology