Work

Pituitary Apoplexy as a Mimicker of Infectious Meningitis in an Adolescent Female Patient

Year: 2023

Type: article

Abstract: Pituitary apoplexy can cause a chemical meningitis and its mimicry in presentation with infectious meningitis poses a diagnostic challenge. Here we report an 18-year-old woman who presented with acute headache, altered mental status, and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) pleocytosis, and clinically improved with antibiotics and steroids. Despite an unremarkable head computed tomography scan, brain magnetic resonance imaging showed a pituitary macroadenoma with apoplexy. This is one of the first reports of an adolescent with pituitary apoplexy masquerading as infectious meningitis and underscores the importance of keeping this rare condition, often missed on CT scans, on the differential for CSF pleocytosis.

Source: Annals of Internal Medicine Clinical Cases

DOI: 10.7326/aimcc.2022.1328

Authors: Justine P. Enns, Timour Al-Khindi, Catherine Wu, Mamuka Machaidze, Joowhan Sung

Institutions: Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center

Language: English

Topic: Pituitary Gland Disorders and Treatments

Subfield: Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: diamond

Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases