Endocrine Abstracts

Several reports of Graves’ disease (GD) onset after COVID-19 vaccination were recently published. The mechanism underlying GD occurrence in these cases could be related to the autoimmune syndrome induced by adjuvants (ASIA), a condition triggered by several vaccine adjuvants and excipients leading to dysfunctional immune response causing different conditions and endocrinopathies in genetically predisposed subjects. In Italy, population campaign for COVID-19 vaccination st...

Low vitamin D levels were consistently reported as a risk factor for worse outcomes in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Emerging evidences suggest that in 50–70% of COVID-19 survivors several post-COVID symptoms can be observed up to 3 months after acute-disease, representing a novel clinical condition defined Long-COVID syndrome. To date, the predisposing factors for this syndrome are still poorly understood. We retrospectively aimed at evaluating the influence of 25(OH) ...

Background: Persistent Hypoparathyroidism (PH) is a condition characterized by inappropriately low concentrations of PTH that lead to hypocalcemia. The treatment cornerstones of PH are calcium and calcitriol supplementation; however, several patients do not achieve adequate control of the disease under this conventional therapy. Notably, no biomarker of risk of ‘resistance’ has yet been identified. Based on the fact that obesity alters the vitamin D-calcium homeostas...

SARS-CoV-2 has rapidly spread from China throughout the world leading to a pandemic. COVID-19 can be severe enough to cause hospitalization and death. Many patients with endocrine disorders share many of the recognized risk factors for severe disease and have potential additional risks due to corticosteroid replacement therapy or alteration in blood electrolytes. We here report three cases of COVID-19 in patients with post-surgical hypopituitarism and documented hypocortisolem...

Introduction: Osteoporosis and vertebral fractures (VFs) commonly occur in overt and subclinical primary hyperthyroidism. In this clinical setting, bone damage is caused by the direct effects of thyroid hormone in excess on bone remodeling, although there is also evidence that low thyrotropin (TSH) values may play a role in driving fracture risk. In fact, TSH was shown to have direct inhibitory effects on osteoclastogenesis and bone resorption. Based on these data, one could a...

Morphometric-Vertebral Fractures (VFs), which were widely demonstrated to reduce overall-survival and respiratory function in the general population, have been recently reported to be highly prevalent in COVID-19 patients. Emerging data show negative respiratory sequelae at long-term follow-up in COVID-19 survivors. The aim of this study is to evaluate the VFs influence on respiratory function of COVID-19 survivors. We included COVID-19 patients admitted at San Raffaele-Hospit...

Medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is a rare malignancy of the thyroid gland. MTCs originate from thyroid-C cells and account for 2-4% of all thyroid neoplasms. Originating from thyroid-C cells, the main secretory product of MTCs is calcitonin, used as sensitive and specific MTC-biomarker. Calcitonin is a hormone known to participate in calcium-bone metabolism suppressing bone-resorption by inhibiting the activity of osteoclasts, and inhibiting the kidney reabsorption of calcium a...

Purpose: To evaluate whether the degree of response to surgical pre-treatment with somatostatin receptor ligands (SRL) predicts alterations in blood glucose levels.Patients and methods: We retrospectively studied 181 patients attending the Unit of Neurosurgery of our Hospital prior to transsphenoidal surgery. All patients had a diagnosis of acromegaly (nadir GH during OGTT >0.4 ng/ml; and IGF-I above age-standardized UNL); diagnosis of diabetes (DM) ...

Growth hormone deficiency (GHD) has become increasingly recognized as a cause of metabolic syndrome, characterized by altered body composition and adverse cardiovascular risk. The effects of other pituitary hormone deficiencies or their replacement therapies on the metabolic profile in this clinical setting are still largely unclear. In this study, we aimed to evaluating the effects of replacement therapies of central hypoadrenalism and hypothyroidism on body composition in a ...

Over the last years, there has been evidence that acromegaly may cause skeletal fragility with high risk of vertebral fractures. The diagnostic approach to this complication is still a matter of uncertainty, since DXA measurement of bone mineral density (BMD) does not provide reliable information on fracture risk in acromegaly. The cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) technique offers three-dimensional images for the radiographed area with the advantage to use non-dedicated eq...