Governor Pio Pico, the monster of California…no more: lessons in neuroendocrinology

Abstract

We hypothesize that Pio Pico, the last Mexican Governor of California, had acromegaly between at least ages 43 to 57, from 1844 to 1858, before Pierre Marie published the clinical description of acromegaly in 1886. Pico’s probable growth hormone-secreting pituitary tumor likely infarcted spontaneously after 1858. The tumor infarction resulted in burnt-out acromegaly and probably restored normal pituitary function. Pearce Bailey published the first account of pituitary tumor infarction only in 1898. Pico’s undiagnosed, misunderstood, profoundly acromegalic appearance was widely misinterpreted, leading to pervasive, degrading, and highly prejudicial comments. This landmark case study in neuroendocrinology provides the opportunity to re-examine elements of 19th century California and American history.

Selective pituitary tumor apoplexy apparently reversed acromegaly in Governor Pio Pico between 1858 and 1873

“…This lends support for the impression that Pico might well have been the biological father of the two boys, Ranulfo Romero born 1862 and Alfredo Romero born 1871 [1]. Additional photographic or historical medical data may yet permit further refinement of the natural history of his disease.…”

“…It then passed to Walter's eldest son, Thomas, an historian and genealogist of early California, and then to Thomas' widow and then onto her second husband whose daughter, Jeannine Raymond, donated the photograph to the Workman and Temple Family Homestead Museum in 2009. In contrast to the 1858 image [1], Pico now shows a generous beard, full eyebrows, symmetrical light reflection on his eyes and less prominence of his acromegalic facial features, all similar to his essentially normal appearance later in his 90s…”

Gigantes en la historia

“…Más cerca a nuestros días, encontramos una publicación de Pituitary de 2010 en donde se describe el proceso de cambios en su fisonomía que tuvo el gobernador de Baja California Pío de Jesús Pico, último gobernador mexicano de estos territorios a finales del siglo XVIII. La foto (figura 1) muestra que, durante una época de su vida, tuvo cambios característicos de acromegalia, y que al parecer asociado a un cuadro de cefalea intensa, dichos cambios se estabilizaron y se resolvieron, llegando a fallecer a los 89 años de causas naturales(8) .En el arte, una forma indirecta de expresar las vivencias cotidianas, también vemos la presencia de figuras humanas…”