Sudden death from pituitary apoplexy in a patient presenting with an isolated sixth cranial nerve palsy.
Publication/Presentation Date
6-1-2006
Abstract
A 68-year-old diabetic, hypertensive man presented with a left sixth cranial nerve palsy. MRI demonstrated an inhomogeneous sellar mass encroaching on the left cavernous sinus. Two days later, a left third cranial nerve palsy developed. Within 24 hours, the patient went into cardiac arrest and died. An autopsy showed hemorrhage within a pituitary macroadenoma ("pituitary apoplexy"). Pituitary apoplexy should be considered a cause of acute isolated sixth cranial nerve palsy and may represent a life-threatening emergency that can be averted with emergent hormonal replacement and hypophysectomy.
Volume
26
Issue
2
First Page
95
Last Page
97
ISSN
1070-8022
Published In/Presented At
Warwar, R. E., Bhullar, S. S., Pelstring, R. J., & Fadell, R. J. (2006). Sudden death from pituitary apoplexy in a patient presenting with an isolated sixth cranial nerve palsy. Journal of neuro-ophthalmology : the official journal of the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society, 26(2), 95–97. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.wno.0000223270.01813.57
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences
PubMedID
16845307
Department(s)
Fellows and Residents
Document Type
Article