A Case Report from the Ancient Past

Patient: — Final Diagnosis: Pituitary apoplexy with hypothyroidism Symptoms: — Medication: — Clinical Procedure: — Specialty: Endocrinology and Metabolic OBJECTIVE: Educational purpose BACKGROUND: Standard translations of Hippocratic works are sometimes misleading because the translators knew less about their subject than did the ancient authors. CASE REPORT: A new translation and explication of a chapter from a Hippocratic work of the fifth century before the Common Era (BCE), Diseases II, describes patients with pituitary apoplexy and subsequent myxedema, the 2 events separated by as much as 14 years. CONCLUSIONS: The association of myxedema with an intracranial event that occurred years earlier predates by 2400 years the causal association of a pituitary adenoma with hormonal deficiency.