Postpartum Pituitary Hypophysitis

The case of a young woman who developed lymphocytic hy-pophysitis 2 weeks after delivery of a healthy baby is reported. The patient presented with clinical features suggestive of a pituitary mass lesion, but surgery was avoided when other clini-cal and radiologic features were considered. The patient recov-ered with steroid treatment only. We review the literature on this increasingly recognized condition and argue that medical management may be more suitable than previously thought. Key Words: Lymphocytic hypophysitis—Pregnancy—Ste-roid treatment. Inflammatory growths in the area of the pituitary gland should be considered in the preoperative differen-tial diagnosis of every pituitary tumor that is not associ-ated with important hormonal dysfunction, particularly in the peripartum period. It may also present in the earl