Case Records of the Massachusetts General Hospital. Case 31-2016. A 53-Year-Old Man with Diplopia, Polydipsia, and Polyuria

A novel approach to hypophysitis: outcomes using non-glucocorticoid immunosuppressive therapy

OBJECTIVE

To determine pituitary function before and after nonglucocorticoid immunosuppressive therapy (NGIT) in subjects with hypophysitis and evaluate their clinical and radiologic outcomes.

DESIGN

Retrospective, longitudinal study.

METHODS

We reviewed a large database, selected subjects with hypophysitis treated with NGIT, and collected information on the duration of therapy, and clinical, hormonal, and radiologic outcomes.

RESULTS

Twelve subjects met the inclusion criteria. Five subjects had primary hypophysitis (PH), while seven had secondary hypophysitis (SH) due to an underlying systemic inflammatory disease. Mean age ± SD was 48.0 ± 15.7 years and 40.9 ± 13.0 years, for PH and SH, respectively. The majority were female (PH 60% and SH 86%). BMI ± SD at presentation was 25.2 ± 2.5 kg/m2 and 26.8 ± 6.7 kg/m2 for PH and SH, respectively. The most common symptom at presentation was fatigue (75%). All PH subjects (100%) and 2 (28.6%) SH subjects had polyuria/polydipsia. There was a significant decrease in mean pituitary stalk thickness after NGIT (P = .0051) (mean duration 16.5 ± 4.8 months). New hormone loss or recovery occurred rarely. Mycophenolate mofetil was the most used NGIT: adverse effects prompted discontinuation in 2 out of 7 subjects.

CONCLUSIONS

Subjects with hypophysitis receiving NGIT had stable or improved brain/pituitary magnetic resonance imaging findings with a significant decrease in pituitary stalk thickness. NGITs did not improve anterior pituitary function. Our findings suggest that NGIT may be considered as an alternative therapy for patients with hypophysitis who require immunosuppression.

Granulomatosis with polyangiitis in a patient with polydipsia, facial nerve paralysis, and severe otologic complaints: a case report and review of the literature

BACKGROUND

Granulomatosis with polyangiitis, formerly known as Wegener granulomatosis, is a necrotizing vasculitis with granulomatous inflammation that belongs to the class of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies-positive diseases. It occurs in a localized and a systemic form and may present with a variety of symptoms. Involvement of the upper respiratory tract is very common, while neurologic, endocrinological, and nephrological dysfunction may occur.

CASE PRESENTATION

We describe the case of a 29-year-old Central European male patient presenting with severe bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, otorrhea, and one-sided facial nerve paralysis. The patient was unsuccessfully treated with i.v. antibiotics at another hospital in Berlin, and tympanic tubes were inserted. After presentation to our emergency room, he was hospitalized and further diagnostics started. Increased fluid intake and 12 kg weight gain over the last months were reported. The patient was diagnosed with granulomatosis with polyangiitis and diabetes insipidus. The patient's condition improved after treatment with rituximab.

DISCUSSION

A comprehensive PubMed search of all articles with granulomatosis with polyangiitis and diabetes insipidus was conducted to assess which combination of symptoms occurs simultaneously and whether other parts of the pituitary are commonly involved. The 39 selected articles, describing 61 patients, showed that ear-nose-throat involvement occurred most commonly, in 71% of cases. Of patients, 59% had involvement of the anterior pituitary gland, while true panhypopituitarism occurred in 13% of cases. Only one case report featured the same set of symptoms as described herein.

CONCLUSION

Granulomatosis with polyangiitis is a highly variable disease, commonly involving the upper airways, but that may present with symptoms solely related to the pituitary gland. Clinicians should have a low threshold to investigate for granulomatosis with polyangiitis in patients with therapy-resistant otorrhea. Patients may present with a complex set of symptoms, and integrating different specialists when additional symptoms occur may lead to faster diagnosis.

Hypophysitis, the Growing Spectrum of a Rare Pituitary Disease

Hypophysitis is defined as inflammation of the pituitary gland that is primary or secondary to a local or systemic process. Differential diagnosis is broad (including primary tumors, metastases, and lympho-proliferative diseases) and multifaceted. Patients with hypophysitis typically present with headaches, some degree of anterior and/or posterior pituitary dysfunction, and enlargement of pituitary gland and/or stalk, as determined by imaging. Most hypophysitis causes are autoimmune, but other etiologies include inflammation secondary to sellar tumors or cysts, systemic diseases, and infection or drug-induced causes. Novel pathologies such as immunoglobulin G4-related hypophysitis, immunotherapy-induced hypophysitis, and paraneoplastic pituitary-directed autoimmunity are also included in a growing spectrum of this rare pituitary disease. Typical magnetic resonance imaging reveals stalk thickening and homogenous enlargement of the pituitary gland; however, imaging is not always specific. Diagnosis can be challenging, and ultimately, only a pituitary biopsy can confirm hypophysitis type and rule out other etiologies. A presumptive diagnosis can be made often without biopsy. Detailed history and clinical examination are essential, notably for signs of underlying etiology with systemic manifestations. Hormone replacement and, in selected cases, careful observation is advised with imaging follow-up. High-dose glucocorticoids are initiated mainly to help reduce mass effect. A response may be observed in all auto-immune etiologies, as well as in lymphoproliferative diseases, and, as such, should not be used for differential diagnosis. Surgery may be necessary in some cases to relieve mass effect and allow a definite diagnosis. Immunosuppressive therapy and radiation are sometimes also necessary in resistant cases.

Recurrent autoimmune hypophysitis treated with rituximab: a case report

Background

Autoimmune hypophysitis is a rare condition that often results in enlargement of the pituitary gland and hypopituitarism due to inflammatory infiltration. Management of autoimmune hypophysitis can include long-term hormonal replacement and close control of the inflammatory pituitary mass. Mass-related symptoms in patients with autoimmune hypophysitis are treated with anti-inflammatory therapy, surgery, and/or radiotherapy.

Case presentation

We present a 25-year-old White man with visual field defects of the right eye, headache, and weight loss. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a sellar mass, and the patient underwent transcranial surgery. Histopathology revealed autoimmune hypophysitis with predominantly CD20 positive B-cell infiltration. Progression of visual field defects necessitated postoperatively anti-inflammatory treatment with prednisolone. Azathioprine was initiated under gradual tapering of prednisolone with stable conditions at first, but relapse followed after dose reduction. Therefore, rituximab treatment was initiated, which resulted in regression of the pituitary mass. Rituximab treatment was discontinued after 25 months. The patient has continuously been in remission for 4 years after rituximab treatment was stopped.

Conclusion

This case illustrates that rituximab might be an effective alternative treatment in B-cell predominant autoimmune hypophysitis.

IgG4-related hypophysitis

Hypophysitis is a rare pituitary inflammatory disorder classified in different ways. Immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD), also a rare disease is a systemic fibro-inflammatory condition characterized by infiltration of tissue with IgG4-positive plasma cells; however prevalence of both of them probably is underestimated. In this paper, we present an Iranian patient with biopsy-proven IgG4-related hypophysitis and then review the clinical characteristics, laboratory, imaging, pathologic findings and therapeutic management as well as prognosis of 115 published cases of hypophysitis secondary to IgG4-related disease.

Relapsed granulomatosis with polyangiitis with panhypopituitarism

A man in his early 60s with a medical history of granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) in remission for two decades without maintenance therapy presented with non-specific complaints of profound fatigue and 40-pound weight loss. He was seronegative for antinuclear antibodies and cytoplasmic antineutrophilic antibodies, but erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C reactive protein levels were elevated. Endocrinological testing revealed adrenal insufficiency, hypogonadism, hypothyroidism and diabetes insipidus. An MRI of the head revealed extensive sinonasal inflammation eroding through the floor of the sella turcica and into the pituitary gland and stalk. Biopsy of the sinonasal tissues was inconclusive. On review of his case, a multidisciplinary team diagnosed him with panhypopituitarism secondary to a recurrence of GPA. He responded well to glucocorticoids and methotrexate with marked reduction of pituitary enhancement on imaging and resolution of diabetes insipidus. He will require lifelong testosterone, levothyroxine and glucocorticoids for hormone replacement therapy.

IgG4 hypophysitis: Diagnosis and management

IgG4-related hypophysitis is a rare disease, due to a lymphoplasmocytic IgG4 positive infiltration of the pituitary. Literature data are scarce, even though the description of cases has drastically increased over the last years. The aim of this review is to better characterize the natural history, the diagnosis and the management of IgG4-related hypophysitis, based on a clinical case, an exhaustive Pubmed research, and a reappraisal of the criteria for diagnosis. We will specifically focus on the differences with other etiologies of hypophysitis, in the aim of improving the diagnostic procedures for all the physicians who could have to take care of such patients.

Tumefactive Inflammatory Diseases of the Pancreas

Advances in the past two decades have resulted in the recognition of several tumefactive pancreatic lesions that, on histologic evaluation, show a varying combination of inflammation and fibrosis. Autoimmune pancreatitis, the prototypic tumefactive pancreatic fibroinflammatory lesion, is composed of two distinct diseases, type 1 autoimmune pancreatitis and the less common type 2 autoimmune pancreatitis. Although designated as autoimmune pancreatitis, the two diseases show little morphologic or pathogenic overlap. In type 1 disease, subsets of T lymphocytes (type 2 helper T cells, regulatory T cells, and T follicular helper 2 cells) are hypothesized to drive the inflammatory reaction. The B-cell response is characterized by an oligoclonal expansion of plasmablasts, with dominant clones that vary among patients and distinct clones that emerge at the time of relapse. Although the precise role of IgG4 in this condition remains uncertain, recent studies suggest that other IgG subclasses (eg, IgG1) may mediate the immune reactions, whereas IgG4 represents a response to dampen excessive inflammation. A recent study of type 2 autoimmune pancreatitis highlights the role of CXCL8 (alias IL-8), with duct epithelium and infiltrating T lymphocytes expressing this chemokine; the latter may contribute to the distinct form of neutrophilic inflammation in this disease. The review also highlights other forms of mass-forming chronic pancreatitis: follicular pancreatitis, groove pancreatitis, and those associated with rheumatologic diseases.

Orbital Apex Syndrome Resulting from Mixed Bacterial Sphenoid Sinusitis

Orbital apex syndrome (OAS) is an uncommon disorder characterized by visual loss, ophthalmoplegia, ptosis and hypoaesthesia of the forehead^[1]. OAS may result from a variety of inflammatory, infectious, neoplastic and vascular conditions that cause damage to the superior orbital fissure (with resultant oculomotor (III), trochlear (IV), abducens (VI) and ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve (V1) palsies) and to the optic canal leading to optic nerve (II) dysfunction. This case report describes the clinical development of OAS in a patient with bacterial sphenoid sinusitis.

LEARNING POINTS

Orbital apex syndrome (OAS) is an uncommon manifestation of a wide range of disease entities, with management ranging from antibiotic therapy to immunosuppression and surgery.OAS can be life-threatening if there is disease invasion through ophthalmic vessels or bone fissures, leading to intra-cranial involvement.Without adequate knowledge and clinical suspicion, OAS can be easily missed or misdiagnosed, resulting in delayed treatment and devastating loss of function or even death.

Diabetes insipidus is an unfavorable prognostic factor for response to glucocorticoids in patients with autoimmune hypophysitis

INTRODUCTION

Autoimmune hypophysitis (AH) has a variable clinical presentation and natural history; likewise, its response to glucocorticoid therapy is often unpredictable.

OBJECTIVE

To identify clinical and radiological findings associated with response to glucocorticoids.

DESIGN AND METHODS

12 consecutive patients with AH, evaluated from 2008 to 2016. AH was the exclusion diagnosis after ruling out other pituitary masses and secondary causes of hypophysitis. Mean follow-up time was 30 ± 27 months (range 12-96 months).

RESULTS

MRI identified two main patterns of presentation: global enlargement of the pituitary gland or panhypophysitis (n = 4, PH), and pituitary stalk abnormality only, or infundibulo-neuro-hypophysitis (n = 8, INH). Multiple tropin defects were more common in PH (100%) than those in INH (28% P = 0.014), whereas diabetes insipidus was more common in INH (100%) than that in PH (50%; P = 0.028). All 4 PH and 4 out of 8 INH were treated with glucocorticoids. Pituitary volume significantly reduced in all PH patients (P = 0.012), defective anterior pituitary function recovered only in the two patients without diabetes insipidus (50%) and panhypopituitarism persisted, along with diabetes insipidus, in the remaining 2 (50%). In all INH patients, either treated or untreated, pituitary stalk diameter reduced (P = 0.008) but diabetes insipidus persisted in all.

CONCLUSIONS

Glucocorticoid therapy may improve anterior pituitary function in a subset of patients but has no effect on restoring posterior pituitary function. Diabetes insipidus appears as a negative prognostic factor for response to glucocorticoids.

Neurological Manifestations of IgG4-Related Disease

OPINION STATEMENT

IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is a multisystem inflammatory disorder. Early recognition of IgG4-RD is important to avoid permanent organ dysfunction and disability. Neurological involvement by IgG4-RD is relatively uncommon, but well recognised-hypertrophic pachymeningitis and hypophysitis are the most frequent manifestations. Although the nervous system may be involved in isolation, this more frequently occurs in conjunction with involvement of other systems. Elevated circulating levels of IgG4 are suggestive of the condition, but these are not pathognomonic and exclusion of other inflammatory disorders including vasculitis is required. Wherever possible, a tissue diagnosis should be established. The characteristic histopathological changes include a lymphoplasmacytoid infiltrate, storiform fibrosis and obliterative phlebitis. IgG4-RD typically responds well to treatment with glucocorticoids, although relapse is relatively common and treatment with a steroid-sparing agent or rituximab may be required. Improved understanding of the pathogenesis of IgG4-RD is likely to lead to the development of more specific disease treatments in the future.