Michael M Dumitrascu
Although transient Diabetes Insipidus (DI) is the most common complication of pituitary surgery, there is no consensus on its definition. Polyuria is the most overt symptoms of DI, but can also reflect several physiological adaptive mechanisms in the postoperative phase. These may be difficult to distinguish from and might coincide with DI. The difficulty to distinguish DI from other causes of postoperative polyuria might explain the high variation in incidence rates. This limits interpretation of outcomes; in particular complication rates between centers, and may lead to unnecessary treatment. Aim of this review is to determine a pathophysiologically sound and practical definition of DI for uniform outcome evaluations and treatment recommendations.