Combined Pituitary Hormone Deficiency – Pituitary Disorders

Your pituitary gland is a pea-sized gland at the base of your brain. The pituitary is the “master control gland” – it makes hormones that affect growth and the functions of other glands in the body.

With pituitary disorders, you often have too much or too little of one of your hormones. Injuries can cause pituitary disorders, but the most common cause is a pituitary tumor.

• ACTH (cosyntropin) stimulation test (Medical Encyclopedia)
• ACTH blood test (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Empty sella syndrome (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) blood test (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Gigantism (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Growth hormone stimulation test (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Hypopituitarism (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Luteinizing hormone (LH) blood test (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Pituitary infarction (Medical Encyclopedia)

Combined pituitary hormone deficiency is a condition that causes a shortage (deficiency) of several hormones produced by the pituitary gland, which is located at the base of the brain. A lack of these hormones may affect the development of many parts of the body. The first signs of this condition include a failure to grow at the expected rate and short stature that usually becomes apparent in early childhood.People with combined pituitary hormone deficiency may have hypothyroidism, which is underactivity of the butterfly-shaped thyroid gland in the lower neck. Hypothyroidism can cause many symptoms, including weight gain and fatigue. Other features of combined pituitary hormone deficiency include delayed or absent puberty and lack the ability to have biological children (infertility). The condition can also be associated with a deficiency of the hormone cortisol. Cortisol deficiency can impair the body’s immune system, causing individuals to be more susceptible to infection.Rarely, people with combined pituitary hormone deficiency have intellectual disability; a short, stiff neck; or underdeveloped optic nerves, which carry visual information from the eyes to the brain.