[The endocrine psychosyndrome in the long term. I. A cantamnestic reexamination of patients suffering from panhypopituitarism (author's transl)].

Twelve patients (8 females, 4 males) with panhypopituitarism who had been thoroughly examined psychiatrically in 1957 and 1958 were reexamined in 1974 for psychopathologic alterations in the course of their endocrine disease. Eleven patients had been receiving an adequate hormonal treatment during the intervening years or (four patients) until the time of their death. Seven patients showed a good or excellent result of hormonal therapy, in respect of the psychic symptoms: the endocrine psychosyndrome which had been observed prior to treatment had improved considerably. Signs of organic brain syndrome were judged to be caused by age and not by the endocrinopathy. The factors influencing prognosis of psychic symptoms are: alteration in mental activity, in the sense of apathy and lack of drive, and the extent of social distegration caused by these alterations; the age of the patient at the onset of symptoms and the lapse of time prior to the beginning of adequate therapy; finally the personality structure and the social situation of the patient.