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Definition
By Mayo Clinic staff
Sheehan's syndrome is a condition affecting women who experience life-threatening blood loss during or after childbirth. Severe blood loss deprives your body of oxygen and can seriously damage vital tissues and organs. In Sheehan's syndrome, the damage occurs to the pituitary gland — a small gland at the base of your brain. The result is the permanent underproduction of essential pituitary hormones (hypopituitarism).
Also called postpartum hypopituitarism, Sheehan's syndrome is rare in industrialized nations. But it's still a major threat to women in developing countries.
For some women, Sheehan's syndrome seems to cause few, if any, symptoms. For others, Sheehan's syndrome can lead to an adrenal crisis — a life-threatening shortage of the hormone cortisol. Treatment of Sheehan's syndrome involves hormone replacement therapy.
- Feinberg EC, et al. The incidence of Sheehan's syndrome after obstetric hemorrhage. Fertility and Sterility. 2005;84(4):975-979.
- Soares DV, et al. Clinical, laboratory and therapeutics aspects of Sheehan's syndrome. Arquivos Brasileiros de Endocrinologia e Metabologia. 2008;52(5):872-878.
- Dokmetas HS, et al. Characteristic features of 20 patients with Sheehan's syndrome. Gynecological Endocrinology: The Official Journal of the International Society of Gynecological Endocrinology. 2006;22(5):279-283.
- Schrager S, et al. Sheehan syndrome: A rare complication of postpartum hemorrhage. The Journal of the American Board of Family Practice. 2001;14(5):389-391.
- Sert M, et al. Clinical report of 28 Patients with Sheehan's syndrome. Endocrine Journal. 2003;50(3):297-301.
- Pham PC, et al. Sodium and water disturbances in patients with
- Sheehan's syndrome. American Journal of Kidney Diseases. 2001;38(3):E14.
- Kelestimur F, et al. Sheehan's syndrome: Baseline characteristics and effect of 2 years of growth hormone replacement therapy in 91 patients in KIMS-Pfizer International Metabolic Database. European Journal of Endocrinology. 2005;152(4):581-587.
- The Pituitary Gland. In: Ganong WF. Review of Medical Physiology. 22nd edition. The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.; 2005. http://www.accessmedicine.com/resourceTOC.aspx?resourceID=11. Accessed Nov. 28, 2008.
