Pituitary necrosis following major heart surgery.

Five cases of acute adenohypophysial necrosis were detected among 33 patients who underwent major cardiac operation and died within 10 days. This finding indicates an increased incidence of pituitary necrosis in heart surgery patients compared with unselected autopsy material. Histologically, the lesions which closely resemble those associated most frequently with obstetric shock, elevated intracranial pressure and diabetes mellitus, are coagulative infarcts, due to suppression of adenohypophysial blood flow. The cause of circulatory arrest to the adenohypophysis remains obscure.