Spontaneous Remission of Acromegaly Following Subclinical Pituitary Apoplexy

Pituitary apoplexy is a rare and sometimes underdiagnosed complication of pituitary adenomas. We present here the case of a patient who was referred to our endocrinology outpatient clinic for his acromegalic appearance. Endocrinological evaluation revealed low basal growth hormone and normal insulin-like growth factor 1 levels, secondary hypothyroidism and adrenal insufficiency. A haemorrhagic adenoma was detected on pituitary MRI scan. In the light of clinical and laboratory evidences, probably, our patient had a previous somatotroph pituitary adenoma which caused acromegaly but further developed subclinical pituitary apoplexy which ended up with hypopituitarism. Turk Jem 2011; 15: 44-6