Pituitary function in idiopathic haemochromatosis: hormonal study in 36 male patients

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Abstract
Male patients (36) with idiopathic hemochromatosis were subjected to measurements of basal plasma values of testosterone, LH [lutropin] and FSH and to an LHRH test. Nineteen were also subjected to basal plasma determinations of T3 [triiodothyronine], T4 [thyroxine], cortisol, TSH and prolactin and to a TRH test. In 11 cases GH [growth hormone] values were measured before, during and after an arginine infusion. Seventeen patients had low levels of testosterone, LH and FSH, and no gonadotropin responses to LHRH. Seventeen others had normal levels of these 3 hormones, with normal responses to LHRH. The 2 remaining patients had normal testosterone values but very increased gonadotropin values: a fact which remains unexplained. Basal levels of prolactin, GH, T3, T4 and TSH were normal: cortisol levels were either normal or increased in cases of poorly controlled diabetes. Prolactin responses to TRH were always normal. TSH responses to TRH were impaired in 2 cases and GH responses to arginine in 3 cases. Considering that other factors may be involved in the few impairments found in TSH and GH stimulations, the only indisputable pituitary insufficiency in about half of the cases of idiopathic hemochromatosis is gonadotropic.

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