[Gigantomastia in pregnancy developing in a case of status thymicolymphaticus]

An 18-year-old female patient is described, suffering from the syndrome of the immunoendocrine insufficiency, status thymicolymphaticus with hyperplasia of the reticulo-epithelial cells and Hassall's corpuscles of the thymus, generalized hyperplasia of the lymphoid tissue and adrenal hypoplasia. When pregnant, she developed a giantism of the mammary glands with a high blood prolactin level. Death occurred several hours after surgery for artificial abortion from acute adrenal insufficiency resulting from adrenal hypoplasia possibly aggravated by the use of parlodel. Eosinophilic (prolactin-somatotrophic) adenohypophyseal hyperplasia which was much higher than that expected in pregnancy evidenced the role of both prolactin and somatotrophic hormone in the pathogenesis of the mamma giantism. The morphological manifestations of the latter were proliferation of the intralobular connective tissue and end ducts and marked interstitial edema of the mammary glands.