Information on Pituitary Disorders from the National Library of Medicine
Your pituitary gland is a pea-sized gland at the base of your brain. The pituitary is the "master control gland" - it makes hormones that affect growth and the functions of other glands in the body. Read more at the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.
Read about Hypopituitarism at MayoClinic.com
MayoClinic.com Hypopituitarism Information.
Information on Hypopituitarism at the University of Maryland Medical center
Hypopituitarism, also called an underactive pituitary gland, is a condition that affects the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland -- usually resulting in a partial or complete loss of functioning of that lobe. The resulting symptoms depend on which hormones are no longer being produced by the gland. Read more at the UMM website.
Sheehan's syndrome
MayoClinic.com Sheehan's Syndrome Information.
Consensus guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of adults with GH deficiency II: a statement of the GH Research Society in association with the European Society for Pediatric Endocrinology, Lawson Wilkins Society, European Society of Endocrinology, Ja
Growth hormone deficiency (GHD) is a well-recognized clinical entity in the adult. It causes abnormalities in substrate metabolism, body composition, physical, and psychosocial function, which improve with GH replacement. In April 1997, the GH Research Society (GRS) convened an international workshop that formulated Consensus Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Adults with GHD, which were widely adopted internationally by the health authorities and professional societies (1). The GRS convened a second international workshop on March 13–15, 2007 in Sydney, Australia, to review and incorporate important advances that have occurred in the last 10 years. The GRS invited leading experts in the field and related professional societies, all of whom contributed to the updated Consensus. Full consensus guidelines available through the European Journal of Endocrinology, via PubMed.
Stereotactic radiosurgery for patients with pituitary adenomas.
Objectives: To provide guidelines about the use of stereotactic radiosurgery in symptomatic patients with imaging identified pituitary adenomas with treatment recommendations to be used by medical and public health professionals. See National Guideline Clearinghouse major recommendations.
Abstract: Laboratory diagnosis of multiple pituitary hormone deficiencies: issues with testing of the growth and thyroid axes.
Clinical manifestations of hypopituitarism are variable and depend on the severity of hormone deficiency, creating a diagnostic challenge for diagnosis of the non-classical patient who may have a less severe growth hormone (GH) deficiency and only a suggestion of possible hypothyroidism. Laboratory tests contribute to the diagnostic process, but the tests for growth and thyroid dysfunction, two of the most common manifestations of multiple pituitary hormone deficiency, are some of the most problematic from a methodological perspective. See Abstract at PubMed.
Inducing puberty
Puberty is the result of increasing pulsatile secretion of the hypothalamic gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH), which stimulates the release of gonadotropins and in turn gonadal activity.
In general in females, development of secondary sex characteristics due to the activity of the gonadal axis, i.e., the growth of breasts, is the result of exposure to estrogens, while in boys testicular growth is dependent on gonadotropins and virilization on androgens. Full text available free through the European Journal of Endocrinology.
IGF-I measurements in the diagnosis of adult growth hormone deficiency
Although serum insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) concentrations have utility as a screening test for growth hormone (GH) deficiency in children and young adults, they are less accurate for screening in adults over 40 years of age. There are two main limitations in the clinical use of IGF-I levels as a marker of GH secretion. First, IGF-I synthesis is not only regulated by GH but also by nutrient supply and by other hormones; second, low IGF-I levels in the presence of normal or increased GH secretion may reflect a peripheral resistance to GH action. Although serum IGF-I cannot be used as a stand-alone test for the diagnosis of adult GH deficiency, very low IGF-I levels in the context of documented hypothalamic or pituitary disease may be helpful in identifying patients with a high probability of GH deficiency. Full text available through Springerlink.com.
Abstract: Androgen replacement therapy in androgen-deficient women with hypopituitarism.
Hypopituitarism is a rare disorder, but its prevalence has increased as a result of an increase in secondary causes of hypopituitarism such as traumatic brain injury and cranial irradiation. Estrogen with or without progestogen (progestin) treatment is conventional therapy in women with hypopituitarism. Recent data demonstrate that women with hypopituitarism may experience marked androgen deficiency as a consequence of secondary loss of function of the adrenal cortex and/or ovaries. See Abstract at PubMed.
Abstract: Hypopituitarism oddities: congenital causes.
BACKGROUND: The last 15 years have witnessed an explosion in our knowledge of hypothalamo-pituitary development, acquired mainly from naturally-occurring and transgenic animal models. A complex genetic cascade dictates organ commitment, cell differentiation and cell proliferation within the anterior pituitary. Mutations in genes encoding both signalling molecules and transcription factors have been implicated in the aetiology of hypopituitarism, with or without other syndromic features, in mice and humans. See Abstract at PubMed.
24-Hour Pituitary and Adrenal Hormone Profiles in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Objectives: Disturbances of neuroendocrine function, particularly the hypothalamo–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, have been implicated in the pathophysiology of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). However, few studies have attempted to measure blood levels of pituitary or adrenal hormones across a whole 24-hour period in CFS, and those that did so have used infrequent sampling periods. Our aim was to assess 24-hour pituitary and adrenal function using frequent blood sampling. Full text available free through PubMed.
Cardiovascular risk factors in hypopituitary GH-deficient adults
Retrospective studies have shown that the risk of premature death is elevated in hypopituitary patients receiving conventional hormone replacement therapy without GH, and that the increased risk was mainly due to an increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease (1, 2, 3, 4, 5). The excess mortality and the increased cardiovascular and cerebrovascular morbidity have also been confirmed in one large prospective study (6). GH deficiency (GHD) is the most likely explanation for this finding (7), although over- or under-replacement of other pituitary hormones may also be implicated (8, 9). Full text available free from the European Journal of Endocrinology.
Abstract: Prolactinomas in Children and Adolescents.
Prolactinomas are the most common pituitary adenomas in children and adolescents followed by adrenocorticotropic hormone-secreting and growth hormone-secreting adenomas. Females are slightly more affected than males (who have macroadenomas more frequently). Compared with the adult setting, in children macroadenomas are more frequent than microadenomas. See Abstract at PubMed.
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Growth hormone effects on the body
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