Posterior Pituitary Functions
Clinical diabetes insipidus is apparently an uncommon complication of postpartum pituitary necrosis occurring in about 5% of all cases.[6,8,35–37] However, neurohypophyseal functions have been shown to be frequently impaired in SS even in patients without clinical diabetes insipidus. These include impaired osmoregulation of vasopressin secretion using hypertonic saline infusion test, higher serum osmolality during hypertonic saline infusion test and reduced maximum urine osmolality after water deprivation test. These changes are postulated to be due to the thirst center being affected by ischemic damage, leading to increase in the osmotic threshold for the onset of thirst.