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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Endocrinol.

Sec. Neuroendocrine Science

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1664695

Stiff-person syndrome mimic secondary to hypopituitarism: a case report and literature review

Provisionally accepted
  • Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Introduction: Flexion contracture has been reported to be associated with hypopituitarism and hypoadrenalism. We reported a case of a patient who presented with stiff-person syndrome (SPS) mimic secondary to prolactinoma-associated hypopituitarism. Methods: A case of SPS mimic secondary to hypopituitarism was reported. Literature review identified seven additional reported SPS mimic cases associated with hypopituitarism until July 2025. We summarized the etiologies, clinical features, and therapeutic revelations of these cases. Results: We described a patient who developed progressive rigidity of lower limbs and trunk with painful spasms precipitated by sensory stimuli for six months, initially suspected as SPS. Investigations indicated hypopituitarism secondary to prolactinoma, and hormone replacement therapy received showed a favorable clinical response. The literature review showed seven similar cases of SPS mimic secondary to hypopituitarism. The underlying causes are attributed to pituitary mass and Sheehan's syndrome for males and females, respectively. Flexion contracture and painful spasms predominated the typical pictures and responded satisfactorily to glucocorticoid supplementation. Conclusions: SPS mimic is a rare neurological manifestation secondary to hypopituitarism, typically hypoadrenalism. Our report raises awareness of this potential complication to promote early hormonal evaluation and prompt glucocorticoid replacement therapy. Further studies are warranted to elucidate to mechanism between adrenal deficiency and neurological manifestations.

Keywords: Stiff-Person Syndrome, Hypopituitarism, Hypoadrenalism, Hyponatremia, hormone replacementtherapy

Received: 12 Jul 2025; Accepted: 22 Sep 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Zheng, Cui, Liu, Duan, Wang, Li and Lu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Lu Lu, chilelu.lululu@hotmail.com

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