OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to review the clinical and radiological findings of those non-functioning adenomas(NFAs) with positive immnoreactivity for anterior pituitary hormones. METHODS: Sixty patients with pituitary adenoma were treated at the author's institution between January 2000 and July 2005. All consecutive patients were underwent transsphenoidal surgery by same operator. In addition to the routine histopathological examination, surgical specimen was examined by immunohistochemical staining against adenohypophyseal cells. And clinical analysis was performed by retrospective review of medical records, neuroimaging examinations and immunohistochemical technique. We classified these pituitary adenomas into functioning adenomas (group F), immunopositive NFAs (group S, so-called silent adenoma) and immuno-negative NFAs (group N), and compared clinical and radiological differences between group F, N, and S. RESULTS: Of the 60 cases, group F was 25, group S was 25, and group N was 10. Among the group S, 5 cases showed reactivity against PRL, 1 against GH, 1 against both PRL and GH, 1 against TSH and GH, 2 against ACTH, 11 against FSH and 4 against both LH and FSH. Radiologically, invasiveness was noted in 8 in group S, compared to 3 in group N and 1 in group F (p=0.02). Intratumoral bleeding was noted in 7 of group S, 2 of group N and 2 of group F (p>0.05). CONCLUSION: Silent adenomas were thought to behave more aggressive than other subgroups of pituitary adenomas. And so we suggest the immunohistochemical study against adenohypophyseal cells may be helpful for evaluating clinical course of pituitary adenoma, expecially for, NFAs.
Adenoma* ; Adrenocorticotropic Hormone ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Medical Records ; Neuroimaging ; Pituitary Gland* ; Pituitary Hormones, Anterior ; Pituitary Neoplasms ; Retrospective Studies

BACKGROUND: ackground: Sheehan's syndrome secondary to severe postpartum hemorrhage is one of the major causes of pituitary insufficiency in Korea. Most of these patients do not manifest symptoms or signs of gross endocrinopathies. Earlier detection of pituitary insufficiency is of clinical importance. The combined pituitary stimulation test that uses the four hypothalamic releasing hormones is a rapid, safe, and effective way to evaluate anterior pituitary function. However, the criteria for a normal response has not been established in Korea. METHODS: Combined anterior pituitary stimulation tests were performed on fourteen healthy women who had no history of endocrine disease. Combined tests of anterior pituitary reserve were done no forty-five patients who suffered from massive postpartum hemorrhage which required transfusing, along with subsequent shock or changing consciousness and in thirty-nine patients who experienced mild postpartum hemorrhage. RESULTS: 1) In the severe hemorrhage group, thirty-three of forty-five women (73.3%) showed blunted responses in more than one of the anterior pituitary hormones in the combined pituitary stimulation tests. However, in the mild hemorrhage group, only eighteen of thirty-nine women (46.2%) demonstrated blunted responses of more than one of the anterior pituitary hormones. 2) In the severe hemorrhage group, the TSH response was blunted in twenty-five patients (55.6%), prolactin in eleven patients (24.4%), ACTH in ten patients (22.2%), LH in ten patients (22.2%), GH in nine patients (20%), and FSH in five patients (11.1%). 3) The results of combined pituitary stimulation tests in the normal control group were different from the results of other studies. CONCLUSION: It is recommended that the women who experienced a severe postpartum hemorrhage should be evaluated by using the combined pituitary stimulation test. Moreover, criteria for a normal response to the combined pituitary stimulation test should be established in Korea.
Adrenocorticotropic Hormone ; Consciousness ; Endocrine System Diseases ; Female ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hypopituitarism ; Korea ; Pituitary Hormone-Releasing Hormones ; Pituitary Hormones, Anterior ; Postpartum Hemorrhage* ; Postpartum Period* ; Prolactin ; Shock

Dear Author, You have used abbreviations that will need to be defined in the main paper, i.e. PIT1, PROP1 and MRI. This is just for your advice. Pituitary agenesis is an uncommon cause of panhypopituitarism. It has been proposed that breech delivery, or birth trauma, is a major factor causing pituitary agenesis. Recent studies have suggested that genetic defects in the PIT1 or PROP1 gene might be involved in the pathogenesis of pituitary agenesis. In this case we report on the diagnosis of a 33-years old female patient with-growth retardation and sexual infantilism. We diagnosed anterior pituitary hormones deficiencies, with the exception of adrenocorticotropic hormone, by a combined pituitary stimulation test. We observed pituitary agenesis using sella MRI. Involvement of the PIT1 or PROP1 genes in this case remains to be determined. Here we report a case of pituitary agenesis found in an adult woman together with a brief review about this disease entity.
Abbreviations ; Adrenocorticotropic Hormone ; Adult* ; Diagnosis ; Female ; Humans ; Hypopituitarism ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Parturition ; Pituitary Hormones, Anterior ; Sexual Infantilism

BACKGROUND: We investigated the prevalence of electrolyte imbalance and the relationship between serum electrolyte and anterior pituitary hormone levels in patients with Sheehan's syndrome. METHODS: In a retrospective study, we investigated 78 patients with Sheehan's syndrome. We also included 95 normal control subjects who underwent a combined anterior pituitary hormone stimulation test and showed normal hormonal responses. RESULTS: In patients with Sheehan's syndrome, the serum levels of sodium, potassium, ionized calcium, magnesium, and inorganic phosphate were significantly lower than those in control subjects. The prevalence of hyponatremia, hypokalemia, hypocalcemia, hypomagnesemia, and hypophosphatemia in patients with Sheehan's syndrome was 59.0% (n=46), 26.9% (n=21), 35.9% (n=28), 47.4% (n=37), and 23.1% (n=18), respectively. Levels of sodium and ionized calcium in serum were positively correlated with levels of all anterior pituitary hormones (all P<0.05). Levels of potassium in serum were positively correlated with adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) and growth hormone (GH) levels (all P<0.05). Levels of inorganic phosphate in serum were positively correlated with levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone, prolactin, and GH (all P<0.05), and levels of magnesium in serum were positively correlated with delta ACTH (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Electrolyte imbalance was common in patients with Sheehan's syndrome. Furthermore, the degree of anterior pituitary hormone deficiency relates to the degree of electrolyte disturbance in patients with this disease.
Adrenocorticotropic Hormone ; Calcium ; Electrolytes ; Growth Hormone ; Humans ; Hypocalcemia ; Hypokalemia ; Hyponatremia ; Hypophosphatemia ; Hypopituitarism* ; Magnesium ; Pituitary Hormones, Anterior ; Potassium ; Prevalence ; Prolactin ; Retrospective Studies ; Sodium ; Thyrotropin

The tumors containing ganglion cells are rare in the pituitary gland. These tumors are divided into two groups. The first group is the cases of mixed gangliocytoma-adenoma that contained both gangliocytoma and pituitary adenoma elements in the same tumor and the second group is those of gangliocytoma that contained only gangliocytoma element. Since the first description by Kiyono in 1926, 45 cases have been reported. The most common presentation of these tumors is acromegaly and the cases of Cushings disease and galactorrhea-amenorrhea also have been reported. In immunohistochemical study, hypothalamic-releasing hormones are stained in gangliocytoma cells and adenohypophyseal hormones are stained in adenoma cells. The releasing hormones stained in gangliocytoma element and the pituitary hormones stained in adenoma elements are usually closely related but unrelated cases also have been reported. We report a case of a 41 year-old lady with acromegaly which was diagnosed as mixed gangliocytoma-adenoma after surgical removal of the pituitary tumor.
Acromegaly* ; Adenoma ; Adult ; Ganglion Cysts ; Ganglioneuroma ; Humans ; Pituitary Gland* ; Pituitary Hormones ; Pituitary Hormones, Anterior ; Pituitary Neoplasms

PURPOSE: Obesity is a well known risk factorfor erectile dysfunction, and metformin normalizes androgen levels in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome and decreases body fat and leptin concentration in normal weight men. Thus, we hypothesized that metformin may restore the neuroendocrine abnormalities associated with obesity and improve erectile dysfunction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Obesity was induced by a high fat(HF) diet fed for 4 months, and then metformin(300 mg/kg/day) was administered for 4 weeks. Penile nitric oxide synthase(NOS) expression and luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone(FSH), testosterone, leptin, corticotropin releasing factor(CRF), adrenocorticotropin (ACTH), and proopiomelanocortin(POMC) were evaluated in control and HF obese rats. RESULTS: Penile nNOS and eNOS were suppressed markedly, and serum leptin and FSH were increased in HF rats compared to controls. However, POMCexpression in the hypothalamus was decreased in HF rats compared to controls,despite slightly elevated cerebrospinal fluid(CSF) leptin concentration. Metformin treatment for 4 weeks restored penile nNOS and eNOS expression, decreased serum leptin, increased POMC expression in the hypothalamus, and decreased serum concentration of FSH and CRF in HF rats. Surprisingly, metformin increased CSF leptin concentration in both control and HF rats. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggested that NOS expression was suppressed by the HF diet, but restored by metformin treatment. The effect of metformin on NOS expression resulted from not only a leptin sensitizing effect but also through a normalizing effect on levels of endocrine factors.
Adipose Tissue ; Adrenocorticotropic Hormone ; Animals ; Diet ; Erectile Dysfunction ; Humans ; Hypothalamus ; Leptin ; Luteinizing Hormone ; Male ; Metformin* ; Nitric Oxide Synthase* ; Nitric Oxide* ; Obesity ; Polycystic Ovary Syndrome ; Pro-Opiomelanocortin ; Rats* ; Testosterone

Isolated ACTH deficiency is a uncommon disorder causing secondary adrenocortical insufficiency. Less than 200 cases have been reported in the world. The major clinical manifestations are hypoglycemia, weight loss, hypotension, anemia, weakness, nausea, inability to excrete water load, and hyponatremia. A 56-year-old male was admitted because of weakness, fatigue, nausea and vomiting. He was pallor and not associated with hyperpigmentation. The basal plasma ACTH and cortisol levels were 8.30 pg/ml and 0.6 ug/dl. The serum cortisol did not response to rapid ACTH stimulation test. On combined pituitary stimulation test, the cortisol did not response to insulin-induced hypoglycemia. Other anterior pituitary hormones showed normal responses except elevated prolactin level. Six months after glucocorticoid replacement therapy, the elevated basal prolactin level returned to normal. Brain MRI did not show any anatomic abnormalities of the sellar and suprasella area. We report a case of isolated ACTH deficiency accompanied by hyperprolactineia, which respond to glucocorticoid replacement therapy.
Adrenal Insufficiency ; Adrenocorticotropic Hormone* ; Anemia ; Brain ; Fatigue ; Humans ; Hydrocortisone ; Hyperpigmentation ; Hyperprolactinemia* ; Hypoglycemia ; Hyponatremia ; Hypotension ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nausea ; Pallor ; Pituitary Hormones, Anterior ; Plasma ; Prolactin ; Vomiting ; Water ; Weight Loss

Cushing's syndrome that is caused by an adenoma of the corticotrape cells of the anterior pituitay or, rarely, by couticotrope hyperplasia is refered to as Cushing's disease. Cushings disease is usually characterized by chronic, moderate hypersecretion of ACTH and other POMC derived peptide. Most patients have ACTH-secreting anterior pituitary corticotrope microadenomas, but a small minority have a pituitary macroadenoma. We recently experenced two cases of Cushings disease due to pituitary macroadenoma. and report this cases with review of literatures.
Adenoma ; Adrenocorticotropic Hormone* ; Cushing Syndrome ; Humans ; Hyperplasia ; Pro-Opiomelanocortin

Tuberculous meningitis is a well-known cause of hypothalamic pituitary dysfunction. However, deficiencies of anterior pituitary hormones may only become evident years after recovery because symptoms are of insidious-onset and nonspecific. Pituitary hormones are essential for normal growth and sexual development in childhood, and for maintenance of healthy body composition. In addition, pituitary hormones and vitamin D are important for cardiovascular and bone health. Although evidence of the relationship between hypovitaminosis D and hypopituitarism is limited, some studies suggested that the incidence of vitamin D deficiency increased in hypopituitarism. We describe herein an unusual case of hypopituitarism and severe hypovitaminosis D presenting as osteoporotic fracture after cured tuberculous meningitis.
Body Composition ; Hypopituitarism* ; Incidence ; Osteoporotic Fractures* ; Pituitary Hormones ; Pituitary Hormones, Anterior ; Sexual Development ; Tuberculosis, Meningeal* ; Vitamin D ; Vitamin D Deficiency

Sheehan's syndrome occurs as a result of ischemic pituitary necrosis due to severe postpartum hemorrhage. The manifestations of this clinical syndrome are most often caused by a deficiency in the hormones produced by the anterior pituitary gland, whereas the neurohypophysis is usually preserved but can be involved in severe cases that manifest as diabetes insipidus. This is a report of Sheehan's syndrome that manifested with diabetes insipidus as presenting symptom 2 month's after delivery. The patient suffered massive bleeding, so received a blood transfusion. A combined pituitary stimulation and water deprivation test revealed deficiencies of not only anterior pituitary hormones, such as growth hormone and prolactin, but also of anti-diuretic hormone. We report this case, with a review of the literature.
Blood Transfusion ; Diabetes Insipidus ; Diabetes Insipidus, Neurogenic* ; Growth Hormone ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Hypopituitarism* ; Necrosis ; Pituitary Gland, Anterior ; Pituitary Gland, Posterior ; Pituitary Hormones, Anterior ; Postpartum Hemorrhage ; Prolactin ; Water Deprivation