[Autoimmune hypophysitis. Review of the literature and a case report]

Lymphoid hypophysitis is a rare disease (fewer than 30 cases) which is associated with lymphocytic infiltration of the pituitary gland with complete or partial hypopituitarism, pituitary mass, and occurrence exclusively in women, often during pregnancy or in the postpartum period. The majority of the women had autoimmune endocrine and not endocrine disorders and in some cases antipituitary antibodies were present. For these reasons an autoimmune cause has been suggested. We report a patient in menopause with chronic thyroiditis and anti nuclear, anti smooth muscle and anti mitochondrial autoantibodies who developed a panhypopituitarism with an empty sella. This case is the third observation of a possible autoimmune atrophy of the pituitary.