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Causes
By Mayo Clinic staff
The pituitary gland is part of your endocrine system, which consists of glands that produce hormones that regulate processes throughout your body. The hormones secreted by the pituitary gland help regulate important functions, such as growth, blood pressure and reproduction. For example, the pituitary secretes:
- Growth hormone (GH). This hormone controls bone and tissue growth and maintains the appropriate balance of muscle and fat tissue.
- Anti-diuretic hormone (ADH). By regulating urine production, this hormone manages water balance in your body. A deficiency of ADH results in a condition called diabetes insipidus, causing excess urination and thirst.
- Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). This hormone stimulates your thyroid gland to produce key hormones that regulate your metabolism. Shortage of TSH results in an underactive thyroid gland (hypothyroidism).
- Luteinizing hormone (LH). In men, LH regulates testosterone production. In women, it fosters production of estrogen.
- Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). Working in tandem with LH, FSH helps stimulate sperm production in men, and egg development and ovulation in women.
- Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH). This hormone stimulates your adrenal glands to produce cortisol and other hormones. Cortisol helps your body deal with stress and influences many body functions, affecting blood pressure, heart function and your immune system.
- Prolactin. This hormone regulates the development of female breasts, as well as the production of breast milk.
Hypopituitarism is frequently triggered by a tumor of the pituitary gland. As pituitary tumors increase in size, they can compress and damage pituitary tissue, interfering with hormone production. A tumor can also compress the optic nerves, causing visual disturbances.
The cause of hypopituitarism can also be other diseases and events that damage the pituitary, such as:
- Head injuries
- Brain tumor
- Brain surgery
- Radiation treatment
- Autoimmune inflammation (hypophysitis)
- Stroke
- Infections of the brain, such as meningitis
- Tuberculosis
- Infiltrative diseases, such as sarcoidosis, which is an inflammatory disease occurring in various organs; histiocytosis X, in which abnormal cells cause scarring in numerous parts of the body, such as the lungs and bones; and hemochromatosis, which causes excess iron deposition in the liver and other tissues
- Severe loss of blood during childbirth, which may cause damage to the front part of the pituitary gland (Sheehan syndrome, or postpartum hypopituitarism)
- Genetic mutations resulting in impaired pituitary hormone production
Diseases of the hypothalamus, a portion of the brain located just above the pituitary, also can cause hypopituitarism. The hypothalamus produces hormones of its own that directly affect the activity of the pituitary.
In some cases, the cause of hypopituitarism is unknown.
- Hypopituitarism. American Academy of Family Physicians. http://familydoctor.org/online/famdocen/home/common/hormone/912.html. Accessed August 1, 2008.
- Snyder PJ. Diagnosis of hypopituitarism. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed August 1, 2008.
- Hypopituitarism. Merck Manual. http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec13/ch162/ch162c.html. Accessed August 1, 2008.
- Snyder PJ. Treatment of hypopituitarism. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html.Accessed August 1, 2008.
