Hyposecretion of Anterior Pituitary Hormones Flashcards
List the 5 anterior pituitary hormones
- FSH / LH
- Prolactin
- GH
- TSH
- ACTH
1) What is a primary endocrine gland disease?
2) What is a secondary endocrine gland disease?
3) What is a tertiary endocrine gland disease?
1)
- A disorder in the endocrine glands themselves (gonads, thyroid, adrenal cortex etc) which secrete primary hormones
2)
- A disorder in the anterior pituitary which secrete anterior pituitary hormones
3)
- A disorder in the hypothalamus which secrete releasing / inhibitory hormones to the pituitary
Define panhypopituitarism
‘Decreased production of ALL anterior pituitary hormones’
Define hypopituitarism
‘Decreased production of all (panhypopituitarism) or specific pituitary hormones’
1) What is the basic principle for congenital panhypopituitarism?
2) Give a specific example of a particular pathopsyiological cause of congenital panhypopituitarism
1)
- Mutated gene for transcription factor necessary for normal AP development
2) Mutated PROP1 gene
What hormones are deficient in congenital panhypopituitarism and what sign does it always cause at the very least?
- Deficient in GH and at least one more
- So short stature always
How is congenital panhypopituitarism visualised diagnostically - imaging?
- Pituitary MRI
- Hypoplastic pituitary seen
What is Simmond’s disease?
Another name for panhypopituitarism
What symptoms are there in the presentation of panhypopituitarism based on the hormones involved - include the name of the disorder along the name of the disorder along each hormone where possible?
- FSH / LH deficiency - secondary hypogonadism
- Reduced libido
- Secondary amenorrhoea (women)
- Erectile dysfunction (men)
- ACTH (thus cortisol) deficiency - secondary hypoadrenalism
* Fatigue - TSH - secondary hypothyroidism
* Fatigue
List the 9 causes of acquired panhypopituitarism and give more detail if necessary
- Pituitary apoplexy
- Sheehan’s syndrome
- Infection e.g. meningitis
- Inflammation (hypophysitis)
- Infiltrative disease e.g. neurosarcoidosis
- Trauma
- Pituitary tumour - craniopharyngiomas
- Pituitary surgery
- Radiation
1) Describe the pathophysiology of Sheehan’s syndrome
2) How might Sheehan’s syndrome present?
1)
- Post-partum haemorrhage causes hypotension AND
- Lactotroph hyperplasia increases blood demand to pituitary
- Both the lack of supply and high demand cause pituitary infarction and therefore post-partum hypopituitarism
2)
- TSH + ACTH + GH deficiency → lethargy, anorexia, weight loss
- PRL deficeincy → failure of lactation
- FSH / LH deficiency → failure to resume menses post-delivery
1) What is the pathophysiology of pituitary apoplexy?
2) What might precipitate pituitary apoplexy?
3) What are the visual field defects associated with pituitary apoplexy and explain why these occur?
1) Pituitary haemorrhage / infarction
2) Anticoagulants
3)
- All arise due to the structures within the cavernous sinus (of which the pituitary is one of the contained structures)
- Bitemporal hemianopia due to compressed optic chiasm
- Ptosis (droopy eyelids) - due to compressed oculomotor nerve so impaired levator palpebrae superioris
- Diploplia (double vision - crossed eyes) - due to compressed trochlear and abducens nerves so impaired superior oblique and lateral rectus respectively
Give 4 reasons that basal plasma concentrations of pituitary or target endocrine gland hormones is a poor technique for diagnosing hypopituitarism
- ACTH / cortisol - diurnal rhythm so difficult
- FSH / LH - cyclical so difficult
- GH / ACTH - pulsatile so difficult
- T4 half-life is high (6 days) so if you measure too close to before onset of pathology, you might get a false negative due to remaining high T4
Methods of using stimulated ‘dynamic’ pituitary function tests for function of hypopituitarism diagnostic measurement of…
1) GH / ACTH?
2) TSH?
3) FSH / LH?
1)
- Insulin induced hypoglycaemia - there should be an increase in GH / ACTH (thus cortisol) in a homeostatic response to maintain blood sugar levels
- N.B. use [cortisol] as a surrogate measure of [ACTH] because ACTH rapidly degrades
- If there is no spike in the levels of GH / cortisol - these are deficient
2)
- Administer TRH → should stimulate TSH release → measure [TSH] - if its low and doesn’t increase in response, then this is deficient
3)
- Administer GnRH → should stimulate FSH / LH secretion → measure [FSH / LH] - if its low and doesn’t increase in response, then this is deficient
Discuss the use of radiological diagnosis to diagnose hypopituitarism and what you might see
- Empty sella turcica
- Hypoplastic pituitary
- May also reveal underlying pathology e.g. haemorrhage or pituitary adenoma