[Pituitary disorders in patients after traumatic brain injury and radiotherapy].

Traumatic brain injury is an important public health problem all over the world. Cranial radiation is routinely and increasingly used to manage various types of tumors. Both traumatic brain injury and brain radiotherapy are a frequent and overlooked cause of abnormalities in hypothalamic-pituitary axis function or sometimes even of overt pituitary disorders altering patients' health and quality of life. Because clinical manifestations may be subtle and develop insidiously many years after injury or radiotherapy, establishing a correct diagnosis is not always straightforward. Diagnosis of hypopituitarism and accurate treatment of pituitary disorders offers the opportunity to improve mortality and outcome in both groups of patients. The purpose of this paper is to review the pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, diagnosis and treatment of traumatic brain injury- or radiotherapy-induced pituitary disturbances with a special emphasis on the most recent literature.