Pituitary imaging

Sella Turcica and Parasellar Region -by Walter Kucharczyk and Marieke Hazewinkel

Presentation: "Pituitary Imaging" -Elias Melhem, M.D.

Cabergoline background

Prolactinomas Resistant to Standard Dopamine Agonists Respond to Chronic Cabergoline Treatment

Constant headache

Why the constant headache?

• It doesn't seem to be caused by prolactinemia, because Pat has constant headache that does not seem correlated to her prolactin level... although her PRL level never drops below about 30.
  
• It doesn't seem to be caused by the Cabergoline treatment, because when Pat's CAB treatment has been discontinued for a month or two at a time the headache persists.
  
• Can headache result from distortion of the diaphragma sellae caused by intracranial pressure in patients with secondary empty sella syndrome?

Learning about pituitary disorders

Empty Sella Syndrome -Munir Ahmad Elias, M.D., PhD., Neurosurgeon.

Presentation: "Focus on the Pituitary" -Ariel Barkan, M.D. June 15, 2004)

Presentation: "Pituitary Imaging" -Elias Melhem, M.D.

Hyperprolactinemia -Anne Klibanski, MD and Janet A. Schlechte, MD

Researchers discover GnIH (Gonadotropin Inhibitory Hormone)

New Human Reproductive Hormone Could Lead To Novel Contraceptives And New Cancer Treatments

[Researchers] showed that the hormones are present in a region of the brain, the hypothalamus, that controls reproduction. In addition, GnIH affects nerve cells that secrete GnRH, which is in line with previous findings that GnIH down-regulates GnRH.

Finally, they found that the hypothalamus and pituitary - two key parts of the reproductive axis in the brain have receptors for the hormones.

..."GnIH pushes the pause button on reproduction, but in a variety of ways," Bentley said. "It can act on GnRH neurons in the hypothalamus, inhibiting GnRH release; it can act directly on pituitary; or it can influence the gonads directly. The overall effect is to inhibit reproduction, but at different levels of the reproductive axis."

Purpose of Pituitary Post

The blog is intended to collect information related to a condition experienced by a person (identified in this blog as a female in her teens, named "Pat"). Pat's situation can be described briefly as follows:

• Hyperprolactinemia, pituitary macroadenoma diagnosed around age 10;
• Treatment with Cabergoline quickly shrank adenoma, but now empty sella in indicated;
• Prolactin remains high, and is only partially controlled with Cabergoline;
• Chronic, constant headache.

DISCLAIMER

The author of this blog is not a physician or medical professional.

The contents of this blog are personal notes that in no way constitute medical advice.