Clinical endocrinology
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Clinical endocrinology · Apr 2008
Three years prospective investigation of anterior pituitary function after traumatic brain injury: a pilot study.
It has been recently demonstrated that traumatic brain injury (TBI)-mediated hypopituitarism could be more frequent than previously known. However, most of the previous data were obtained from retrospective studies, and the natural history of the hypopituitarism due to TBI is still unclear. So far no study has been reported in which the pituitary function of the same patients has been investigated more than 1 year after TBI. Therefore, we report the results of 3 years prospective follow-up of anterior pituitary function in patients with mild, moderate and severe TBI. ⋯ GH deficiency is the most common pituitary deficit 1 and 3 years after TBI. In patients with mild and moderate TBI, pituitary function improves over time in a considerable number of patients, but it may also worsen rarely over the 3-year period. In patients with severe TBI, ACTH and GH deficiencies at 1st year evaluation persist at 3rd year.