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Head-injury-induced pituitary dysfunction. An old curiosity rediscovered

Correspondence to:
Dr Carlo L Acerini, Department of Paediatrics, University of Cambridge, Box 116, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, CB2 2QQ; cla22@cam.ac.uk

Accepted for publication 21 January 2008

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

After many decades of being considered simply a clinical endocrinology "curiosity", the long-term endocrine consequences of traumatic brain injury (TBI) have in the past few years been the subject of resurgent interest. First reported almost 100 years ago,¹ chronic pituitary dysfunction following a head injury was originally thought to be a rare occurrence.² This viewpoint has been challenged by recent research on adult survivors of severe brain injury. These studies variously report the prevalence of pituitary hormone deficiencies to be between 23% and 69%.^3–5 It is clear from these studies that one or any number of hypothalamic–pituitary hormone axes may be impaired in the chronic phase following head injury, with the growth hormone (GH; 10–33%), adrenal (5–23%) and gonadal axes (8–30%) apparently the most vulnerable to problems. Further clinical complexity is also evident from prospective, longitudinal observations, which suggest that for many head-injury survivors pituitary hormone dysfunction may not develop . . . [Full text of this article]