A CASE OF HYPOPITUITARISM UNDIAGNOSED FOR 50 YEARS, TREATED WITH HYDROCORTISONE ONLY

According to Sheehan & Summers (1949) »A confident diagnosis of hypopituitarism can usually be made easily from a short clinical examination. The special tests are chiefly of value for confirmation of the diagnosis, for assessment of the severity of the disease, and for academic study.« Most clinicians, however, will feel the need for laboratory tests not only for diagnostic purposes, but also as a guide for therapy. The following case is of interest because of some diagnostic difficulties which delayed the correect diagnosis for 50 years, and also because of the results of the treatment with hydrocortisone alone. Case history. Married woman, born Nov. 5, 1883, entered Med. Dept. B. Aker Hospital, on Aug. 17, 1956. Three deliveries of normal children in the years 1902, 1904 and 1906, with no abortions. All deliveries were at home. The last delivery, however, in 1906 (the patient being 23 years old) was complicated