Paediatric pituitary disorders

It is now 30 years since Drs Wettenhall and Vines formed the Australasian Paediatric Endocrine Group. In the past three decades the diagnosis of pituitary conditions has improved significantly, with the availability of new, sensitive hormonal assays and MRI. The molecular basis for congenital hypopituitarism and pituitary tumourigenesis is being unravelled and therapeutic growth hormone is no longer derived from autopsy pituitaries. Trans-sphenoidal pituitary neurosurgery (also referred to as transnasal trans-sphenoidal neurosurgery) performed in specialist centres achieves high rates of remission if the tumours are diagnosed as microadenomas (<1cm) or at a resectable stage.There are new medications to control some of these tumours.