Sudden Death from Pituitary Apoplexy in a Patient Presenting with an Isolated Sixth Cranial Nerve Palsy
- 1 June 2006
- journal article
- case report
- Published by Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) in Journal of Neuro-Ophthalmology
- Vol. 26 (2), 95-97
- https://doi.org/10.1097/01.wno.0000223270.01813.57
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.Keywords
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