Inflammatory involvement of the hypophysis in Tolosa-Hunt syndrome

We report a case of painful ophthalmoplegia (Tolosa-Hunt syndrome), which was complicated with diabetes insipidus (DI) and pituitary-adrenal axis hypofunction. A 42-year-old man hospitalized for left orbital pain and impairment of left cranial nerves III, IV, V, VI, developed diabetes insipidus during the corticosteroid treatment. Neuroimaging studies disclosed a thickened, highly contrast-enhanced pituitary stalk, swollen pituitary gland and widened left cavernous sinus up to the superior orbital fissure, which were accompanied by diabetes insipidus and hypofunction of the pituitary-adrenal axis. These were indicative of an extension of granulomatous inflammation of the cavernous sinus to the pituitary portal system and the gland itself.