Sheehan’s Syndrome: New Perspective into Old, Preventable but Life-threatening Disease

Abstract

Background: Sheehan’s syndrome (SS) which is the result of necrotic damage to the anterior pituitary gland after severe postpartum bleeding is preventable but life-threatening condition for a woman. Due to postpartum hemorrhage, the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis gets disturbed and results in severe hypotension, shock, and coma. The important causes highlighted for SS are tumors of pituitary gland and vascular conditions, autoimmune diseases such as hypophysitis. The major characteristics of SS are hormonal disturbances such as prolactin, growth hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, and adrenocorticotrophic hormone which lead to lactation failure, amenorrhea, loss of pubic and axillary hair, poor concentration, and many more to mention. It is often remained unrecognized so the diagnosis of SS is quite troublesome, but magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography scan, and level of hormones in the blood are helpful enough. Although it is a rare condition in developed countries due to proper availability of medical treatment, yet in developing countries, it is usually undiagnosed many years.

Aim: The purpose of this article is to bring attention about this rare but crucial disease condition after postpartum hemorrhage that must be diagnosed early and the review focuses on risk factors, causes, pathophysiology, symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of one of the critical disease conditions after noticeable postpartum bleeding.