Volume increase in craniopharyngiomas under growth hormone and/or sex hormones substitution: Role of tumors receptors or mere coincidence?
A young woman aged 21 was referred for complication of her craniopharyngioma, which was diagnosed at 11 years old when she consulted for severe short stature with excessive weight gain and headaches. An isolated growth hormone deficiency was diagnosed, and then she received hormone replacement without any radiological exploration!\nAfter 1 year the headaches worsened. The MRI revealed a pituitary lesion measuring 30 mm in height with solid, cystic, and calcified components pleading for a craniopharyngioma reaching the chiasmatic area. At the age of 12, the neurosurgery was done, and then a panhypopituitarism was diagnosed. She was treated with glucocorticoids and thyroid hormones. Then, she was lost in sight before radiological exploration.\nTwo years later, visual acuity decreased and the MRI revealed a 27 × 18 mm tumor (residual or recurrence?) with tri-ventricular hydrocephalus needing surgery.\nAt the age of 18, as her residual tumor seemed stable, she received estrogens for her hypogonadism. After 8 months, intracranial hypertension with impaired consciousness appeared, and then she was operated on for the third time [].