J Korean Soc Endocrinol.  1999 Sep;14(3):578-586.

A Case of Delayed Puberty due to Hypoplasia of Anterior Pituitary Gland with Pituitary Stalk Agenesis and Ectopic Neurohypophysis

• Shin SY
• Kim JY
• Yoon SJ
• Kim SK
• Hong SB
• Kim YJ
• Nam MS
• Kim MR
• Kim YS

Abstract

Hypopituitarism is not a common cause of delayed puberty, however it should always be considered, especially if there are such signs as severe dwarfism, dollish face, truncal obesity, small hands and feet, and microgenitalia. Either congenital or acquired, hypopituitarism can be resulted from hypothalamic and hypophyseal lesions. The clinical feature can be diverse depending on age of the patients, rate of progression, degree of hormone deficiency and characteristics of the lesion. The recent high interest in delayed puberty and the improved detection of hypothalamic hypophyseal lesions using combined pituitary fuction stimulation test, brain CT and MRJ, has made the differential diagnosis of hypopituitarism possible as the cause of delayed puberty. MRI has shown hypophyeal hypoplasia accompanied by anterior pituitary hypoplasia and ectopic neurohypophysis in some of the patients with hypopituitasm, and although the anatomical abnormality around the hypophysis in these patients is considered the reason for hypopituitarism, the pathogensis of which has not yet to be known. We, here, report a case of delayed puberty by hypopituitarism due to hypoplasia of anterior pituitary gland, pituitary stalk agenesis and ectopic neurohypophysis with brief review of the litereature.

MeSH Terms

Brain
Diagnosis, Differential
Dwarfism
Foot
Hand
Humans
Hypopituitarism
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Obesity
Pituitary Gland*
Pituitary Gland, Anterior*
Pituitary Gland, Posterior*
Puberty, Delayed*