Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Central diabetes insipidus (DIC) is defined by the excretion of large volume of diluted urine, secondary to an absolute or relative deficiency of endogenous vasopressin. We report three observations of children with central diabetes insipidus.

Results: This study reports the case of three patients whose average age was thirteen years old (11, 13 and 15 y). The occurrence of polyuria-polydipsia syndrome was the main reason for consultation and hypotonic polyuria was present among all children. The physical examination was normal and the Minirin^® test made it possible to diagnose DIC in all the cases. Concerning the MRI findings, 2 patients showed changes in the size of pituitary stalk thickness with the absence of posterior pituitary bright signal in one case; the other patient’s MRI showed loss of the bright signal from the posterior pituitary gland without any other abnormalities. The biological assessment made mainly of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (BHCG) and other autoimmune tests were screen negative.

Discussion: The central DI is rarely observed among children; the clinical presentation is often abrupt, making its diagnosis more or less easy. On the contrary, the etiological diagnosis usually stays unmasked long enough after the diagnosis is made, justifying prolonged and through follow up.