Evaluation of anterior pituitary function in adult patients with craniopharyngiomas

Serum LH, FSH, TSH, PRL, GH and cortisol levels were measured in 10 patients with a craniopharyngioma both before and after a combined insulin-induced hypoglycaemia, GnRH and TRH test. In pre-operative studies, only two patients did not show hormonal abnormalities, while eight patients had deficiencies of one or more hormones. The most frequent abnormality was GH deficiency (six cases), followed by gonadotropin (four cases), cortisol (four cases), and TSH (one case), whereas four patients showed high serum PRL values. In post-surgical studies, a significant improvement of pituitary function was observed in two cases, whereas an impairment of previously normal corticotropin reserve was recorded in another case. The data obtained suggest that endocrine abnormalities in patients with craniopharyngiomas are irreversible in most cases.