RESULTS OF SURGICAL HYPOPHYSECTOMY IN A CASE OF MALIGNANT EDEMATOUS EXOPHTHALMOS

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Abstract
WE BELIEVE it of interest to report a case of malignant exophthalmos aggravated by treatment of the associated hyperthyroidism and apparently cured by hypophysectomy. Evidence was obtained by histochemical studies of the pituitary, of hypersecretion of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH). CASE REPORT Mrs. L.H., aged 56, proprietress of a café, consulted us on January 11, 1954. She had several complaints, including palpitation and precordial pain. She had lost 7 Kg. weight during the preceding few months, without any intestinal disturbance, and family had noted increasing nervousness. A painstaking history revealed a normal, although overactive psyche. No single important psychiatric trauma was noted, but rather a series of minor ones. The menopause had occurred uneventfully three years before. We were at once struck by the intensity of the patient's stare and the degree of protrusion of the eyeballs, even though the latter were buried in palpebral edema, which was most marked in the upper lids. Further examination showed the degree of exophthalmos to be 18 mm. in both eyes (Hertel exophthalmometer set at 118 mm.).

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