Endocrine manifestations of traumatic brain injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the causes of morbidity and mortality in young males, with consequences ranging from physical disabilities to cognitive, behavioral, psychological and social impairments. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a devastating public health problem and current data clearly establish that it may result in pituitary dysfunction in up to 20-50% have some degree of pituitary dysfunction after TBI. Although most cases of post-traumatic neuroendocrine dysfunction seem to be transient, persistent mild deficiency of pituitary hormones can be overlooked, as patients might have less-severe symptoms and their clinical course is often complicated by significant neurological disabilities. Presently there is paucity of prospective data on the natural history of post-traumatic neuroendocrine dysfunctions and there is need to develop appropriate guidelines for follow-up of suspected to have these dysfunctions so the information can lead to timely and appropriate assessment and treatment of hormonal deficits.