Abstract

THE syndrome of premature sexual maturation (precocious puberty) in man has occurred in association with many factors, including pituitary, adrenal, gonadal and pineal lesions. The first three are well known to cause sexual precocity, but the relation of tumors of the pineal gland to this condition has never been defined. The nature of the association is not generally understood, because the available data on pineal function are not well known. Since this literature has never been thoroughly surveyed, an inclusive review, to be published later, has been undertaken by the author. Portions of it that concern the association of pineal tumors and precocious puberty are summarized in this paper.

The relationship has been known since 1898, when Heubner described the first case. Since that time at least 475 verified cases of pineal tumor have been reported in detail. Of these, 178 occurred in patients 1 to 16 years of age, 145 of whom were boys. Precocious puberty was observed in 46 of these boys.

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