Abstract
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a well recognized public health problem worldwide. TBI has previously been considered as a rare cause of hypopituitarism, but an increased prevalence of neuroendocrine dysfunction in patients with TBI has been reported during the last 15 years in most of the retrospective and prospective studies. Based on data in the current literature, approximately 15%–20% of TBI patients develop chronic hypopituitarism, which clearly suggests that TBI-induced hypopituitarism is frequent in contrast with previous assumptions. This review summarizes the current data on TBI-induced hypopituitarism and briefly discusses some clinical perspectives on post-traumatic anterior pituitary hormone deficiency.
Introduction
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) could be defined as a change in brain function or other evidence of brain pathology caused by external forces,1 and is a well recognized public health problem worldwide. A substantial number of people with TBI are seen in emergency departments; the great majority, approximately 235,000 each year, are hospitalized because of non-fatal TBI and nearly 50,000 die according to reports from the USA. Further, the overall annual incidence of TBI in the USA has been reported to be 506 per 100,000 population.2 The severity ratio of hospitalized TBI patients was reported to be approximately 22:1.5:1 for mild to moderate to severe cases, respectively.3 Thus, there is no doubt that TBI is one of the most common causes of mortality and long-term disability among young adults. The main causes of TBI are road traffic accidents (the leading cause, accounting for 50% of all cases), falls, violence-related incidents, sports-related head trauma (hockey, soccer, football), combative sports (boxing and kickboxing) characterized by chronic repetitive head trauma, and war-related accidents, including blast injuries.4–7
Although TBI has previously been considered as a rare cause of hypopituitarism, an increased prevalence of neuroendocrine dysfunction in patients with TBI has been reported during the last 15 years in most of the retrospective and prospective studies.8–18 This review summarizes the current data on TBI-induced hypopituitarism and briefly discusses some clinical perspectives on post-traumatic anterior pituitary hormone deficiency.[…]
Continue —> Pituitary dysfunction following traumatic brain injury: clinical perspectives
TBI Rehabilitation 