Endocrine Abstracts

Previously, we demonstrated an inverse correlation between CoenzymeQ10 (CoQ10) and thyroid hormones, suggesting its usefulness as index of thyroid hormone tissue effect. A low-T3 syndrome, observed in chronic diseases, is considered an adaptive mechanism and its treatment is still debated. To evaluate the metabolic status of these patients and antioxidant vs energetic role of CoQ10, we studied 32 patients, with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), comparing respirator...

Hyperthyroidism associated to hyperthyrotropinemia is a rare condition which can be due to two different causes: resistance to thyroid hormones and TSH secreting adenoma. The differential diagnosis is not easy.We have observed 8 patients with hyperthyroidism associated to inappropriately elevated TSH. All patients had similar basal levels of thyroid hormones and 7 out of 8 had a multinodular goiter.Four out of 8 patients showed lac...

Aim: We compared effectiveness of partial withdrawal of levothyroxine (L-T4) to the use of recombinant human TSH (rhTSH) in preparation for Tg testing. We also evaluated clinical aspects and quality-of-life (QOL) during both regimens.Materials and methods: Ten consecutive patients, previously treated with total thyroidectomy and radioiodine ablation for DTC, underwent rhTSH protocol and, after 15 days, reduced their L-T4 dose by 50% for 5 weeks. At the f...

High risk of impaired glucose tolerance and diabetes mellitus is frequently observed in acromegalic patients. Some studies have reported a direct correlation between circulating GH levels and the degree of glucose intolerance. Microalbuminuria clusters with the metabolic syndrome and both conditions predict cardiovascular disease mortality. The reported relationships of microalbuminuria with the individual components of the metabolic syndrome are variable. Aim of this prelimin...

Endometriosis is a chronic gynecological inflammatory disease characterized by the presence of functional endometrial glands and stroma outside of the uterine cavity. It affects 7–10% of women of reproductive age, up to 50% of women with infertility and up to 60% of women with dysmenorrhea. The aim of this pre-clinical study was evaluate the efficacy of low-dose SKA Progesterone (GUNA) and low-dose SKA IL-10 (GUNA) in the modulation of the inflammatory response in endomet...

Introduction: A significant number of GH-secreting pituitary adenomas show an aggressive behavior, therefore, when uncontrolled acromegaly persists, a pharmaceutical combination may improve biochemical control, with reduction of disease morbidity and mortality. We aimed to describe the clinical features of four patients successfully treated with a pharmacological combination of pasireotide LAR, pegvisomant and cabergoline.Case reports: Acromegaly was dia...

Purpose: Primary hypophysitis is a rare disease, with an autoimmune etiology. As few papers have investigated its genetic, our aim was to evaluate HLA status in a single-center series of patients.Patients and method: A retrospective, longitudinal and cross-sectional study was conducted. Consecutive Caucasian patients, with clinical or histological diagnosis of primary autoimmune hypophysitis (PAH), undergone determination of HLA genotype, anti-pituitary ...

Introduction: Pasireotide Lar is a new generation long-acting somatostatin multireceptor ligand, approved for the treatment of first line somatostatin analogue resistant patients. We aimed to review Pasireotide Lar efficacy data, in our series of patients affected by aggressive acromegaly.Patients: A retrospective longitudinal study was conducted on patients with aggressive acromegaly, resistant to first-line somatostatin analogues (SSA) and on treatment...

Background: Acromegaly is associated with skeletal fragility and increased prevalence of vertebral fractures (VF). In recent years several authors tried to investigate predictor markers of bone fragility risk in this endocrine disorder. Two isoforms of GH receptor (GHR) have been described, which differ in the presence or absence of a transcript of exon 3 of the GHR gene. Both isoforms produce a functional receptor, but the exon 3-deleted isoforms (d3-GHR) have greater sensiti...

Introduction: Skeletal fragility is a relevant and not-reversible complication of acromegaly, involving around 30-40% of patients since the disease diagnosis. Few studies have investigated the effects on skeletal health of medical therapies for acromegaly. We aim to investigate the frequency of incident vertebral fractures (i-VFs) in patients treated with Pasireotide Lar + Pegvisomant (study group), after at least 24 consecutive treatment months and to compare the i-VFs freque...