Pituitary-Thyroid Dysfunction in a Hashimoto’s Encephalopathy Patient

Jing-Sheng Hu, Jian-Jun He, Mei-Kui Zhang

Department of Endocrinology, First Affiliated Hospital, General Hospital of Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Beijing, China;.
Department of Radiology, First Affiliated Hospital, General Hospital of Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Beijing, China;.
Telemedicine Center, General Hospital of Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Beijing, China..

DOI: 10.4236/nm.2012.34042                

Abstract

The pathogenesis of Hashimoto’s encephalopathy has not been clearly elucidated and involvement of autoimmune damage has been proposed. We report a 23-year-old man who was emergently hospitalized for paroxysmal syncope and involuntary tremor with normal physical examination except for low heart rate. The patient was characterized by neurological symptoms, mild hypothyroidism, enlarged pituitary gland and extremely elevated thyrotropin, which all were reversed with levothyroxine alone. The case indicated that the pituitary-thyroid dysfunction may play a role in the pathogenesis of Hashimoto’s encephalopathy, hence, evaluation of pituitary gland should be recommended in diagnosis and treatment of Hashimoto’s encephalopathy.

Keywords

Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis; Hashimoto’s Encephalopathy; Pathogenesis; Hypothyroidism; Pituitary Gland

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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