Hypopituitarism stabilizes the renal and retinal complications of diabetes mellitus

In 1953, Poulsen described the remarkable case of a woman with type I diabetes mellitus who experienced resolution of her retinopathy following postpartum pituitary necrosis [1]. Since that time, many investigators have pursued the hypothesis that anterior pituitary hormones, particularly growth hormone, play a role in the pathogenesis of the microvascular complications of diabetes mellitus. While most observers have demonstrated the importance of growth hormone in the initiation and progression of diabetic retinopathy [2, 3], the role of growth hormone in the development of diabetic nephropathy has been more difficult to document. In this case report, we describe a woman with long-standing type I diabetes mellitus complicated by retinopathy and nephropathy whose complications stabilized as she developed growth hormone deficiency.