title: Pituitary stalk thickening in a case of langerhans cell histiocytosis.
abstract: A 16-year-old girl was referred for the evaluation of headache exacerbation and progressive loss of visual field from one month ago. She also suffered from intermittent diarrhea since 12 months ago and secondary amenorrhea, headache, weight loss (4 - 5 kg) and weakness from six months ago. She had a history of transient polydipsia and excessive urine output during this period. Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) reported a 15 x 15 x 9 millimeters mass lesion in the sellar region. It was extended to the suprasellar cistern with mild compression of the optic chiasm and mild thickening of the pituitary stalk with posterior displacement were reported. In an exisional biopsy of pituitary stalk lesion, the pathology result was indicative of Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH). The patient underwent four periods of chemotherapy with prednisolone and vinblastin in 28-day intervals followed by one cycle of radiation therapy. In three months follow up after treatment the tumor size was reduced, Levothyroxin and Prednisolone were tapered, and pituitary hormones were improved.
authors.affiliation: Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinical Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. mrmohajeri@tums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Shahnaz
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghafoori
authors.affiliation: Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinical Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Shahrzad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mohseni
authors.affiliation: Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinical Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Bagher
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Larijani
authors.affiliation: Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinical Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mohammad Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Mohajeri-Tehrani
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D006646:Histiocytosis, Langerhans-Cell / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000473:pathology*