CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Avicenna J Med 2018; 8(04): 125-132
DOI: 10.4103/ajm.AJM_2_18
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Patterns of pituitary dysfunction three months or more after traumatic brain injury

Nassar Taha Yaseen
Department of Medicine, Basrah College of Medicine, Faiha Specialized Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolism Center, Basrah, Iraq
,
Fateh Al-Khaqani
Department of Medicine, Basrah College of Medicine, Faiha Specialized Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolism Center, Basrah, Iraq
,
Abbas Ali Mansour
Department of Medicine, Basrah College of Medicine, Faiha Specialized Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolism Center, Basrah, Iraq
› Author Affiliations
Financial support and sponsorship Nil.

Abstract

Purpose: Chronic posttraumatic brain injury (TBI) pituitary dysfunction is not a newly discovered subject, it has been reported more frequently, probably due to increasing chances of exposure to its causes, mainly the road traffic accidents, sport-related injuries, falls, and injuries during wars. This study aims to estimate the frequency of pituitary dysfunction 3 months or more after head trauma and the patterns of hormonal deficiencies. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted between January 2016 and August 2017. Participants were patients having a history of moderate-to-severe TBI at least 3 months before enrolment. Pituitary function test was done for all patients to determine the frequency of pituitary dysfunction, the number of axes deficiencies, and which hormone is mostly affected. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.0 was used for univariate analysis, P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Out of the 28 patients involved in this study, 17 (61%) had pituitary dysfunction, while 11 (39%) had not. Single hormonal defect was the most prevalent abnormality in 12 (43%), and the most affected hormone was the growth hormone (GH) in 14 patients (50%), followed by gonadal axis, thyroid stimulating hormone, and finally adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), 6 (21%), 3 (11%), and 1 (4%), respectively. Conclusion: TBI pituitary dysfunction is more prevalent than was predicted in the population studied, single hormonal defect was found to be the most prevalent abnormality, being the GH is the most affected axis, and the ACTH seems to be the least.



Publication History

Article published online:
12 August 2021

© 2018. Syrian American Medical Society. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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