Anterior pituitary hormone in severe head injury--with special reference to the GH, TSH, LH and FSH response to TRH and LH-RH

Measurement of the serum level of anterior pituitary hormones (GH, TSH, LH and FSH) and the response of these hormones to their releasing hormones were made in 45 uncomplicated head injury patients within 24 hours after injury. We classified these 45 patients into three groups according to the Glasgow Outcome Scale of six months after head injury, such as good outcome group (GR or MD), poor outcome group (SD or PVS) and dead group. The serum level of the anterior pituitary hormones in dead group were higher than those in the good or poor outcome group, especially the level of GH. The serum level of GH was 14.7 +/- 3.0 ng/ml in the dead group, whereas 5.8 +/- 0.9 ng/ml in the good outcome group and 4.0 +/- 2.1 ng/ml in the poor outcome group. The response of TSH, LH or FSH to the administration of TRH or LH-RH were depressed in the dead group. On the other hand, there were normal response of TSH, LH or FSH following administration of TRH or LH-RH in the other two survival groups. These findings suggested that the measurement of the anterior pituitary hormones and the response of these hormones to their releasing hormones were useful to evaluate the severity of head injury.