[Functions of the adrenal cortex in patients with supratentorial brain tumors and their prognostic value for surgical intervention].

The functional activity of the adrenal cortex was studied pre- and postoperatively in patients with pituitary adenomas, craiopharyngiomas and supratentorial meningiomas. With the hypothalamus function preserved, the patients developed varying degrees of stress-responses in the postoperative period. Severe morphological injuries to the hypothalamus make the normal response to surgical trauma impossible. With some functional centers preserved, the diencephalo-catabolic syndrome develops. Severe injuries of the diencephalon, with its adaptative function completely lost, result in the development of the diencephalic areactive syndrome.