SARCOID-LIKE GRANULOMATA OF THE PITUITARY GLAND

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Abstract
DESTRUCTION of the pituitary gland by giant-cell granulomata is a poorly understood, seldom recognized cause of pituitary insufficiency. While these granulomata are readily apparent pathologically, their cause is obscure. They have been considered to be sarcoid or tuberculosis.1 A syphilitic causation has often been questioned.2 Some have considered these lesions to be a distinct, specific disease of unknown origin.3 It is probable that four etiological processes are involved in the reported cases of this disease. In the literature 16 cases have been associated with typical uveoparotid fever, osteitis multiplex cystica, lupus pernio, hyperglobulinemia, or other characteristics of Besnier-Boeck-Schaumann sarcoidosis. In some of these cases, furthermore, the asteroid and Schaumann bodies which are so suggestive of sarcoidosis have been demonstrated.4 Occasional reported cases may represent a healed syphilitic process: In the case of Oelbaum and Wainwright the association of pituitary granulomata with the almost pathognomonic syphilitic lesions of interstitial keratitis and