Clinical and biochemical characteristics of patients presenting with pituitary apoplexy

Purpose To review the clinical and biochemical characteristics and clinical outcome of patients presenting with pituitary apoplexy to a tertiary centre. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the clinical features, predisposing factors, biochemistry and clinical outcome of patients presenting with pituitary apoplexy to Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust between 1991 and 2015. Results We identified 64 patients with pituitary apoplexy (more complete clinical records were available in 52 patients). The median age at presentation was 46.7 years (IQR 31.5–57.0 years). Pituitary apoplexy was the first presentation of pituitary disease in 38/52 of patients and predisposing factors were identified in 28/52. Pituitary apoplexy predominantly occurred in patients with non-functioning pituitary adenomas (47/52). Headache was most commonly described as sudden onset, severe, lateralising to the frontal or temporal regions. Symptoms of meningeal irritation were reported in 7/18 and visual abnormalities in 22/35. A pre-treatment serum cortisol