Endocrine Abstracts

Acromegaly control/remission is defined by stringent criteria: normal age-/sex-adjusted IGF1 and random GH (GHr) <1 ng/ml or a GH nadir (GHn) during oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) of <0.4 ng/ml. However discordances between GH and IGF1 have been recorded in about 30% of patients. We retrospectively analyzed the evolution in patients with acromegaly and discordant GH–IGF1 levels while being treated with somatostatin analogs (SSA) and/or cabergoline (CAB).<p...

N-terminal peptide of type I procollagen (P1NP) is a marker of GH (hGH) anabolic action on bone formation. We evaluated the diagnostic value of P1NP in GH deficiency (GHD) in the transition period using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) plot analysis. We compared the diagnostic value of P1NP with IGF1. 16 male patients (chronological age, 16.6–21.5) with GH replacement therapy during childhood (ten IGHD and six MPHD) were evaluated at minimum 3 months after completi...

Introduction: An improvement of survival in patients with acromegaly was claimed in the last years, with multimodal new therapies.Aims: To assess cure rates of different therapeutic protocols and the impact of these therapies on survival.Methods: 334 patients (224 F/110 M, mean age 48.1±0.7 years) with acromegaly admitted in a single Neuroendocrinology Department between Jan 2001 and Dec 2013 were retrospectively studied by GH...

Background: There are only few reports regarding the role of serum galectin-3 (Gal-3) as an early biochemical marker in thyroid carcinoma.Aim: To evaluate the potential overexpression of Gal-3 in sera from patients with confirmed diagnosis of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).Patients and methods: We retrospectively investigated serum Gal-3 in 40 patients referred to the surgical department for thyroidectomy. Sera were collected be...

Introduction: The polyglandular autoimmune syndromes (PAS) are rare conditions characterised by the failure of several endocrine glands sometimes associated with other non-endocrine autoimmune diseases. There are four categories of PAS: PAS-I includes at least two out of: mucocutaneous candidiasis, hypoparathyroidism and adrenocortical failure. PAS-II comprises of Addison’s disease, autoimmune thyroid disease and/or type 1 diabetes (Carpenter’s syndrome). PAS-III is ...

Introduction: We evaluated the prevalence of metabolic and cardiovascular complications in a Romanian population with adrenal incidentalomas in comparison with an age-matched control group, evaluated in our clinic.Patients and methods: After excluding patients with overt functioning adrenal tumors, subclinical pheochromocytomas, malignant tumors, myelolipomas, data were retrieved from the files of 190 patients with adrenal incidentalomas ≥1 cm and ...

Background: Vitamin D deficiency – a common condition in infants without supplementation – leads to a variety of health impairments.Objectives: To assess 25-OH-vitamin D (VD) status in infants with prolonged hospitalisation, without direct exposure to sunlight.Materials and methods: Twenty-two infants (mean age 6 years 3 months), admitted into Recuperation Department of a Children Hospital for nutritional rehabilitation, ...

Introduction: Primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI) is a rare disease with a prevalence of 82–144 cases/milion. The etiology of PAI is represented primarily by autoimmune adrenalitis, followed by tuberculosis and less common by fungal infections, HIV, hemorrage in adrenal glands, certain drugs and by some genetic disorders such as Triple A syndrome (AAA), Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), congenital adrenal hypoplasia, congenital adrenal hyperplasia, etc.C...

Introduction: Pegvisomant (PEG) is an efficient treatment for acromegaly but the recommendation for this treatment is less active due to its high cost. In Romania it is reimbursed in doses up to 30 mg s.c/day or as 40 or 80 mg/week in combination with a somatostatin analog (SSA).Design: Retrospective analysis of 18 consecutive patients treated with PEG for acromegaly (either as monotherapy, or in combination with SSA and/or cabergoline (CAB...

Introduction: The determination of basal and stimulated calcitonin (CT) is very important for the precocious diagnosis of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) and for its dynamic follow-up. Unfortunately, monitoring is difficult when using assays with different detection systems. Our objective was to identify the correction factor between the reagents for CT measurement on the LiaisonXL and Cobase 601 assays (immunochemiluminescence, respectively electro-immunochemiluminescence)....