Skip Navigation
Skip to contents

KMJ : Kosin Medical Journal

OPEN ACCESS
SEARCH
Search

Articles

Page Path
HOME > Kosin Med J > Volume 29(2); 2014 > Article
Case Report
A Case with Empty Sella Syndrome Combined with Multiple Anterior Pituitary Hormone Deficiencies Presenting as Hypoglycemic Coma
Soo Kyoung Kim1,2, Sung Su Kim1, Bo Ra Kim1, Jung Hwa Jung1,2, Jae Hoon Jung1,2, Jong Ryeal Hahm1,2
Kosin Medical Journal 2014;29(2):151-155.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7180/kmj.2014.29.2.151
Published online: December 18, 2014

1Department of Internal Medicine, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, Korea

2Institute of Health Sciences, GyeongsangNational University, Jinju, Korea

Corresponding Author : Jong Ryeal Hahm, Department of Internal Medicine, Gyeongsang National University School of Medicine, 79, Gangnam-ro, Jinju, 660-702, Korea TEL: +82-55-750-8736 FAX: +82-55-758-9122 E-mail: jrhahm@gnu.ac.kr
• Received: September 4, 2013   • Accepted: October 16, 2013

Copyright © 2014 Kosin University School of Medicine Proceedings

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

  • 908 Views
  • 2 Download
  • A 55-year-old male was admitted to emergency department with a hypoglycemic shock of unknown origin. He was presented with tonic seizure activity after admission. Initial diagnostic procedure could exclude diabetes mellitus, drug side effects, and exogenous insulin application. Detailed evaluation of the patient's history revealed that the patient had experienced repeated hypoglycemic episodes for 2 years. He was diagnosed with hypothyroidism six years ago. Initial laboratory investigations revealed hypoglycemia, hyponatremia, and low plasma cortisol level (0.18 pg/dᄂ)· Sellar magnetic resonance imaging showed empty sella. Replacement therapy with hydrocortisone resulted in the improvement of clinical symptoms. Combined pituitary stimulation test with exception of hypoglycemia induced growth hormone and cortisol stimulation test was performed. The response of thyroid stimulating hormone, prolactin, follicle-stimulating hormone, and luteinizing hormone was normal. We report the case of empty sella syndrome associated with hypoglycemic shock due to with multiple anterior pituitary hormone deficiencies.
Fig-1:
The lateral sk䴸ᅵ x-ray is shown that the sella t䴸rcica appears to be mildly enlarged (Fig. 1A). Tl-weighted image (sagittal image) showed an empty sella and T2-weighted image (coronary image) showed hyper-intense signal intensity (Fig. 1B), s䴸ggesting an empty sella.
kmj-29-151f1.jpg
Table 1.
Basal and stimulated levels of pituitary and target organ hormones
  Provocation test Basal 30 min 60 min 90 min
Glucose (mg/dL)   61      
TSH (mlU/L) TRH (0.5 mg i.v.) 4.98 15.83 13.92 11.19
Prolactin (ng/mL) TRH (0.5 mg i.v.) 17.47 100.60 8i.24 52.84
LH (mJU/mL) LH-RH (100 μ§ i.v.) 3.10 41.51 45.01 36.33
FSH (mlU/mL) LH-RH(100 ng i.v.) 4.89 9.60 11.27 10.69
Testosterone (ng/mL)   6.69      
ACTH (pg/mL)   1.0      
  Tetracosactide (250      
Cortisol (Mg/dL)   0.17 0.22 0.27  
GH (ng/mL)   0.29      
IGF-1 (ng/dL)   43.6      

IGF-1: insulin-like growth factor-1, FSH: follicle-stimulating hormone, LH: luteinizing hormone, LH-RH: luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone, TRH: thyrotropin-releasing hormone, TSH: thyroid-stimulating hormone mpty sella.

  • 1.Busch W. Morphology of sella turcica and its relation to the pituitary gland. Virchows Arch 1951;320:437–58.PubMed
  • 2.Brisman R, Hughes JE, Holub DA. Endocrine function in nineteen patients with empty sella syndrome. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1972;34:570–3.ArticlePubMed
  • 3.Neelon FA, Goree JA, Lebovitz HE. The primary empty sella: Clinical and radiographic characteristics and endocrine function. Medicine 1973;52:73–92.PubMed
  • 4.Caplan RH, Dobben GD. Endocrine studies in patients with the “empty sella syndrome”. Arch Intern Med 1969;123:611–9.ArticlePubMed
  • 5.Gallardo E, Schachter D, Caceres E, Becker P, Colin E, Marta nez C, et al. The empty sella: results of treatment in 76 successive cases and high frequency of endocrine and neurological disturbances. Clin Endocrinol 1992;37:529–33.Article
  • 6.Oh EY, Kim BJ, Chung YJ, Kim DJ, Hahm JR, Chung JH, et al. Clinical and hormonal analysis of five new cases and eight previously reported cases of isolated ACTH deficiency in Korea. J Korean Soc Endocrinol 1999;14:568–77.
  • 7.Choi JH, Park BH, Jo CG. Isolated adrenocorticotropic hormone deficiency associated with empty sella syndrome. Korean J Med 2008;75:597–601.
  • 8.De Marinis L, Bonadonna S, Bianchi A, Maira G, Giustina A. Primary empty sella. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2005;90:5471–7.ArticlePubMed
  • 9.Gallardo E, Scha chter D, Caceres E, Becker P, Colin E, Marta nez C, et al. The empty sella: results of treatment in 76 successive cases and high frequency of endocrine and neurological disturbances. Clin Endocrinol 1992;37:529–33.Article
  • 10.Hatazoe T, Murakami Y, Umaki I, Sohmiya M, Hu HY, Kato Y. Isolated adrenocorticotropic hormone deficiency associated with growth hormone deficiency and empty sella. Intern Med 1995;34:688–91.ArticlePubMed
  • 11.Murakami T, Wada S, Katayama Y, Nemoto Y, Kugai N, Nakata N. Thyroid dysfunction in isolated adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) deficiency: case report and literature review. Endocr J 1993;40:473–8.ArticlePubMed
  • 12.Spencer CA, Schwarzbein D, Guttler RB, LoPresti JS, Nicoloff JT. Thyrotropin (TSH)-releasing hormone stimulation test responses employing third and fourth generation TSH assays. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 1993;76:494–8.ArticlePubMed

Figure & Data

References

    Citations

    Citations to this article as recorded by  

      • PubReader PubReader
      • Cite
        CITE
        export Copy
        Close
      • Download Citation
        Download Citation
        Download a citation file in RIS format that can be imported by all major citation management software, including EndNote, ProCite, RefWorks, and Reference Manager.

        Format:
        • RIS — For EndNote, ProCite, RefWorks, and most other reference management software
        • BibTeX — For JabRef, BibDesk, and other BibTeX-specific software
        Include:
        • Citation for the content below
        A Case with Empty Sella Syndrome Combined with Multiple Anterior Pituitary Hormone Deficiencies Presenting as Hypoglycemic Coma
        Kosin Med J. 2014;29(2):151-155.   Published online December 18, 2014
        Close
      • XML DownloadXML Download
      Figure

      KMJ : Kosin Medical Journal