Successful pregnancy following gonadotropin therapy in a patient with hypogonadotropic hypogonadism resulting from craniopharyngioma.

The authors report a rare case of a patient with panhypopituitarism who became pregnant by gonadotropin therapy and gave birth to a healthy baby. A brain tumour and/or the surgical resection of a brain tumour occasionally results in pituitary dysfunction. An 18-year-old Japanese patient developed hypogonadotropic secondary amenorrhoea because of a craniopharyngioma, which was surgically removed. The patient came to us, and peripheral blood was collected every 15 minutes for four hours. The levels of luteinising hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) were measured. Results showed that LH and FSH levels were very low and did not fluctuate. Several years later, the patient complained of infertility, and treatment with human menopausal gonadotropin (hMG) and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) was started. The therapy was repeated for several cycles, but she did not conceive, so hMG-hCG therapy combined with conjugated oestrogen administration was started. The patient became pregnant at the seventh cycle of this combined therapy. She was not treated with supplementary growth hormone.