Two unusual causes of pituitary stalk thickening in children without clinical features of diabetes insipidus

Abstract

Pituitary stalk thickening has a wide differential diagnosis, but almost all infundibular diseases present with diabetes insipidus (DI). We present a child with metastatic involvement of the pituitary stalk from a primary pontine tumour and a child with tuberculous infiltration of the pituitary stalk and associated meningeal inflammation. Neither child presented with DI. Even though both metastatic disease and tuberculous infiltration of the stalk have been reported in adults, these are the first reports with accompanying cross-sectional images of pituitary stalk involvement by these diseases in children.