Educational Blog about Anesthesia, Intensive care and Pain management

Pituitary Apoplexy

Pituitary Apoplexy



Clinical Setting:

➧ Hemorrhagic infarction of a pituitary adenoma/tumor.

➧ Sudden crisis in a patient with a known or previously unknown pituitary tumor.

➧ It may occur in a normal gland during and after childbirth, with head trauma, or in a patient on anticoagulation therapy. 

Sheehan’s Syndrome:

-Refers to pituitary apoplexy of the non-tumorous gland. It is due to the postpartum arterial spasm of arterioles supplying the anterior pituitary and its stalk.

Clinical Picture:

➧ Severe headache and visual disturbance

➧ Bitemporal hemianopia (Figure 1)

➧ CN III palsy

➧ Meningeal symptoms with neck stiffness

➧ Symptoms of secondary acute adrenal insufficiency:

-Nausea, vomiting, hypotension, and collapse


Bitemporal Hemianopia
Figure 1: Bitemporal Hemianopia

Diagnosis:

➧ CT/MRI scan of head and pituitary

➧ Hormonal studies only of academic interest

➧ Assessment of pituitary function after the acute stage has settled

Management:

a) Hormonal:

➧ Dexamethasone: 4 mg/12 h.

-Glucocorticoid support and relief of cerebral edema.

b) Neurosurgical:

➧ Transsphenoidal pituitary decompression

-After the acute episode the patient must be evaluated for multiple pituitary deficiencies.