Endocrine Abstracts

The dopamine agonist cabergoline has been found to be effective in inducing normalization of cortisol secretion in 25–50% of patients with Cushing’s disease after long-term treatment. Moreover, tumor shrinkage have been documented in selected patients with pituitary corticotroph tumors. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of cabergoline withdrawal in patients with a stable normalization of cortisol secretion and stable or absent visualization of p...

Polyclonal antibodies against somatostatin receptors (SSTRs) available up to now recognizing intracellular sites of receptors and their recycling products do not detect bioactive ligand binding domains (LBDs) and are of limited performance in paraffin-embedded tissues. Aim of this study was to evaluate by immunohistochemistry the expression of SSTR5 on an archival series of pituitary tumors using a new MoAbs against the SST-binding domain (Y-SSTR5).Metho...

Subclinical Cushing’s syndrome (SCS) is a mild autonomous cortisol hypersecretion without specific clinical syndrome of glucocorticoid excess. The aim of this study was to compare cardiac structure and function in patients with adrenal incidentaloma. Twenty patients and 20 sex- and age-matched healthy controls entered the study: among patients, 11 had SCS and the remaining nine had normal cortisol secretion All patients and controls were submitted to Doppler echocardiogra...

The first-line treatment of Cushing’s disease is surgery, although it is effective in inducing a long-term remission in around 50% of patients with Cushing’s disease (CD). Nowadays, no pituitary tumor-directed medical treatment is available with the exception of cabergoline, which has been recently demonstrated to control cortisol secretion without major side effects in around 40% of patients with Cushing’s disease. Cabergoline has been recently demonstrated to ...

Background: Severe GH deficiency (GHD) is associated with, increased cardiovascular (CV) risk and intima-media thickness (IMT) at major arteries.Objective: To investigate the long-term (5-years) effects of GH replacement on insulin resistance (IR) syndrome (IRS) (at least two of: triglycerides levels ≥1.7 mmol/l, HDL-cholesterol levels ≤1.0 mmol/l, blood pressure above 130/85 mmHg, fasting glucose 6.1–7 or 2 h after glucose 7.7–11.1...

Acromegaly is known to be associated to an increased cardiovascular risk, due to the increased prevalence of glucose intolerance and dyslipidemia and pre-atherosclerotic lesions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of treatment with the GH receptor antagonist pegvisomant on cardiovascular risk and atherosclerosis in patients with acromegaly resistant to somatostatin analogues. Twelve patients (4 m, 8 f, 28–58 yrs) and 24 sex-, age- and BMI-matched controls en...

Dopamine agonists have been used as first or adjunctive therapy for acromegaly for many years, but relatively few studies have assessed the efficacy of a newer agonist, cabergoline (CAB) alone or in combination with somatostatin analogues (SSA). The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of combined treatment with SSA plus CAB in patients with acromegaly and resistance to SSA, defined as lack of normalization of IGF-I levels after long-term (>1 year) and hig...

Two medical therapies are now available for the treatment of acromegaly. Pegvisomant is a growth hormone (GH) receptor antagonist. Somatostatin analogues, in contrast, act by inhibiting the release of GH from the pituitary. The primary objective of this study was to compare the efficacy of pegvisomant (P) to that of octreotide LAR (LAR) in terms of IGF-1 normalisation. The secondary objective was to compare safety and tolerability between the two treatments.<p class="abste...

Introduction and Aim: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine disease closely related to several risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Previous study demonstrated an impaired cardiopulmonary functional capacity in PCOS women. The present study was performed to evaluate the effects of 3-months exercise training (ET) programme on cardiopulmonary functional capacity in young women with PCOS.Patients and Methods: The study was conducted according...

Coronavirus disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus (Covid-19) is associated with a variable clinical syndrome, ranging from a mild-moderate to a severe disease, progressing towards acute respiratory distress syndrome. Hypocortisolism is associated with a depletion of innate immunity and disruption of immune response, which could contribute to an increased risk of infection and development of a severe disease. Glucocorticoid (GC) replacement therapy(GCRT), especially if administere...