ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Pituitary adenomas can be classified as clinically functional or silent. Depending on the reviewed literature, these are the first or second place in frequency of the total pituitary adenomas. Even rarer is the presence of a functional gonadotropinoma since only very few case reports exist to date. The conversion of a clinically silent to functional pituitary adenoma is extraordinarily rare; the mechanisms that explain these phenomena are unknown or not fully understood. METHODS: We report the case of a woman who initially had a nonfunctional gonadotropinoma and in the course of her medical condition showed biochemical changes in her hormonal pituitary profile compatible with a functional gonadotropinoma. RESULTS: We considered that the patient had a functional gonadotropinoma due to the hyperestrogenemia in the context of secondary amenorrhea, resolving the hyperestrogenemia after almost complete resection of the tumor. CONCLUSION: It is necessary to point out from a clinical and/or biochemical point of view the change in functionality that a nonfunctional pituitary adenoma may have. In the case of our patient, the suspicion of this change in functionality became evident when we found an increase in the FSH/LH ratio and a progressive increase in serum estradiol concentrations when the patient had amenorrhea.
ABSTRACT
Etomidate is a very effective drug in severe Cushing's syndrome that is refractory to ketoconazol. Control of the serum cortisol levels in ectopic Cushing's syndrome can be obtained with infusion rates much lower than those used in anesthesia, without respiratory side effects.
