Endocrine Abstracts

Myelolipomas are rare benign tumours resulting from myeloid and adipose mature cells proliferation, both elements have a clonal origin from a common precursor. Myelolipomas predominantly involve the adrenal gland but may develop in extra-adrenal sites. They are hormonally inactive but may coexist with active diseases such as adrenogenital syndrome. They are often asymptomatic but rarely they cause symptoms due to their size or spontaneous retroperitoneal haemorrhage. The myelo...

Somatostatin (SRIF) analogs have been employed in medical therapy of non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFA), with contrasting results. Previous evidence showed that SRIF can exert its antiproliferative effects by reducing Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) secretion and action, and that VEGF expression may be related to pituitary tumor growth. The aim of our study was to clarify the possible effects of a multireceptor SRIF ligand on VEGF secretion and cell proliferati...

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...

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...

Introduction: The Morris syndrome, is a rare X-linked disorder in which patients with XY chromosomal makeup (corresponding to a male genotype) develop female sexual characteristics. Acromegaly is a rare disease related to excessive production of growth hormone (GH) and insulin growth factor-I (IGF-I). Rarely, acromegaly was reported to be associated to a chromosomal microduplications of Xq26.3, responsible for early onset form of acro-gigantism. However, cases of acromegaly as...

Introduction: The pseudo-Cushing’s encompass several disorders that can occur in high-stress situations, such as the sepsis, and that show biochemical features like those of Cushing’s syndrome. We present a case with difficult differential diagnosis, for overlapping laboratory findings.Case description: A 74-year-old man was admitted to our hospital for worsening dyspnoea since a month, 15 kilograms weight loss in the previous months, asthenia,...