Diabetes insipidus, Sheehan's syndrome and pregnancy.

OBJECTIVE

To study the role of vasopressin in osmoregulation in two successive pregnancies in a woman with Sheehan's syndrome.

STUDY

DESIGN

Diabetes insipidus (DI) became manifest during two pregnancies in a woman with postpartum hypopituitarism.

RESULTS

Water deprivation-vasopressin administration tests demonstrated partial central DI, corrected with vasopressin in week 12, but only with desmopressin in the third trimester, when placental cystylamino peptidase (vasopressinase) contributes to the severity of the DI.

CONCLUSION

If DI occurs during pregnancy it may be the first manifestation of a latent central DI, which is often idiopathic, but rarely the first symptom of a pituitary or hypothalamic abnormality. It may also be part of Sheehan's syndrome.