Pituitary function after treatment of intracranial tumours in children.

Abstract

Pituitary-function tests have been done in twenty-seven patients at various times after treatment in childhood for intracranial tumours not directly involving the hypothalamic-pituitary region. Impaired growth hormone (G.H.) responses to hypoglycaemia and 'Bovril' were found in ten children. There seeems to be progressive impairment in G.H. production with time after treatment. During the first 3 months after neurosurgery no child was found to be G.H. deficient, but the peak G.H. response of this group seemed to be blunted when compared with a control group of children who had been treated for abdominal tumours. The rest of anterior-pituitary function in G.H.-deficient children seems quite normal except for a significantly greater basal thyroid-stimulating hormone (T.S.H.) level and T;S.H. response after thyrotrophin-releasing hormone. Two girls have developed secondary amenorrhoea, and one is G.H. deficient.