抄録
Of 14 patients of craniopharyngioma including seven cases in children under the age of 15 and seven cases in adults operated on between 1973 and 1979, 13 patients showed diabetes insipidus (DI) in the postoperative period.
Records of these 13 patients with DI after surgery on craniopharyngiomas were reviewed to find out any difference in incidence and duration of DI between children and adults. In 10 of these 13 cases, antiduretic hormone (ADH) in plasma was measured by radioimmunoassay. Of the 13 patients in this series, seven were children and six were adults. There was little difference in the duration of DI between children and adults. However, there were two early deaths in adult cases.
Plasma ADH levels of patients who had DI postoperatively were below 1.1 μU/ml. Plasma ADH values increased after administration of pitressin in one case.
There was a case which showed low value of plasma ADH below 0.5 μU/ml 40 months after surgery, although clinical manifestation of DI had been disappeared. It was suggested that to prevent fluid and electrolyte disturbances, early administration of pitressin was recommended with strictly controlled fluid input. It was also indicated that a long term follow-up would be necessary for the treatment of postoperative DI.
