Endocrine Abstracts

Abstract Unavailable....

Objective: Mortality in autoimmune Addison’s disease (AAD) is increased twofold compared to matched populations. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the most common cause of death, but little is known of cardiovascular morbidity. Inadequate glucocorticoid replacement has been implicated in the increased risk of CVD, but evidence is lacking. The objective of this study was to examine cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in AAD, and to investigate the effects of glucocorticoi...

Background: Both cortisol and other adrenal hormones are well known to affect brain structure and function throughout development. Due to destruction of the adrenal cortex, patients with Autoimmune Addison’s disease (AAD) lack production of adrenal hormones and therefore receive lifelong replacement of cortisol and aldosterone, and, for some female patients dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA). However, replicating the natural rhythm of secretion is difficult, and patients are o...

Background: Hormones oscillate in circadian and ultradian rhythms. Consequently, single time point measurements are very difficult to interpret. To address this, we developed an automated system of 24-hour ambulatory microdialysis. This allows measurement of free hormone concentrations in subcutaneous interstitial fluid collected while participants continue normal daily activities. To validate the technique for adrenal steroid hormones, we simultaneously sampled interstitial f...

Background: Hormones oscillate in circadian and ultradian rhythms. Single time point samples are difficult to interpret and high frequency measurements are time consuming, expensive and invasive. We developed a minimally invasive technique of ambulatory, automated microdialysis. This allows frequent 24-hour sampling of interstitial fluid while participants continue normal daily activities.Methods: Healthy volunteers (age 18–68, no regular medication...

Introduction: Generously supported by IPSEN)-->Pituitary infarction is rare in the paediatric age. In adolescents and adults it is often secondary to haemorrhage into an underlying lesion such as pituitary adenoma or cyst. Lymphocytic hypophysitis is rare in children and usually peri-tumoral due to germinoma, craniopharyngioma or Rathke’s cyst and often associated with hypopituitarism and diabetes insipidus.<p class="abstext...

Background: Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare genetic, neurodevelopmental disorder. In adults the syndrome is characterized by muscular hypotonia, hyperphagia, increased risk of morbid obesity and behavioral problems. Endocrine insufficiencies are common, although insufficient function of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis seems to be rare. The effect of long term exposure to cortisol, which is associated with stress and obesity, is unknown in PWS. Measurement o...

Background: Establishing endocrine diagnoses including pituitary Cushing’s remains challenging with delayed or misdiagnosis being very costly for both patient and the health care system. A key issue is that standard diagnostic tests are typically single time point, single analyte samples, which do not consider dynamic variation intrinsic to endocrine systems. Having previously demonstrated that free tissue hormones correlate strongly with plasma concentrations, we present...

Background: Conventional glucocorticoid replacement therapies result in unphysiological variation in plasma cortisol levels; concern has been raised regarding long-term metabolic consequences. Glucocorticoid replacement is technically feasible by continuous subcutaneous hydrocortisone infusion (CSHI), which can mimic the normal diurnal cortisol rhythm. The aim of this study was to compare insulin sensitivity in patients with Addison’s disease (AD) on CSHI vs three daily d...

Autoimmunity is the most frequent cause of Addison’s disease (AD). Isolated secondary adrenal insufficiency (ISAI) in patients not treated with corticosteroids seems to be an autoimmune disease too. In the registry of the Department of Endocrinology in Warsaw we have 328 patients with AD and 305 patients with ISAI. Autoimmune AD was diagnosed in 262 of 328 patients (77%) and in 217 of them (83%) some associated autoimmune disorders were found, while in the group with ISAI...