[Anterior antehypaphyseal insufficiecency in the elderly]

The authors report 4 personal cases, and analyse 18 cases of anterior pituitary insufficiency in the elderly found in the world literature. The initial symptoms are not specific and are difficult to interpret. They are frequently attributed to physiological ageing. In the absence of early diagnois, the patient may become comatose, this coma is often irreversible in spite of hormone treatment. In 60% of cases, the cause of the pituitary failure was not found. In the onset of the latter, the role of ageing on pituitary function, the responsibility of circulatory failure between the hypothalamus and the pituitary and, finally, the existence of auto-immune mechanisms are then discussed.