[Idiopathic hypophysitis in elderly patients. Report of 2 cases and review of literature].

INTRODUCTION: Hypophysis inflammatory tumors are a non frequent cause for hypopituitarism. The motive of outpatient visit is headache. It is more frequent in pregnancy and immediate post-labor women. The pathology shows a lymphocytic inflammatory infiltrated or granulomas with giant cells (these can be accompanied with an infectious or autoimmune systemic disease associated).

CLINICAL CASES: We present two elderly female patients, without infectious or autoimmune pathology associated, with suggestive abnormalities of hypophysial adenoma by MRI. Both presented a suspecting clinical manifestation of intracranial expansive lesion (progressive intensive headaches, with partial compromise of the III left pair in the second one), noticing by laboratory a subclinical hormonal dysfunction. Surgery of tumoral exeresis was underwent in both patients, showing a granulomatous hypophysitis in one and a lymphocytic hypophysitis in the other.

CONCLUSION: Hypophysis inflammatory tumors must be considered as a preoperative differential diagnosis of every hypophysial tumor without important hormonal dysfunction associated, mainly in women and what is more in pregnancy or lying-in women, taking into account that surgery of tumoral resection can worsen a subclinic hypophysial dysfunction.