Endocrine Abstracts

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)....

Background: Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) is an important mediator of invasion and metastasis in neoplasia. The single nucleotide 1562 C/T polymorphism in the promoter region of the MMP-9 genewas shown to increase gene expression and was studied as a susceptibility factor for various cancers.Aim: We aimed to evaluate the impact of the MMP-9 promoter genotype on the risk of developing papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and to correlate cancer patient gen...

Introduction: Pheochromocytoma (PCC) has a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations, from insidious disease to extreme symptoms. Various mechanisms of catecholamine and other mediators actions were related to the diversity of PCC presentation.Aim: We describe a retrospective study, of patients with PCC from a tertiary hospital, focusing on clinical and biochemical characteristics of PCC depending on means of discovery.Material and ...

Introduction: Acromegaly is characterized by a pituitary adenoma with excess secretion of GH and IGF-1 hormones. More than 90% of the cases are diagnosed as macroadenomas, after 5 to 10 years of clinical manifestation.Case report: We present the case of a 49 years old man with minor thalassemia, hospitalized in endocrinology department for a routine check of chronic autoimmune thyroiditis. A careful anamnesis showed that in the last year the patient was ...

Introduction: Patients with non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPA) and hipopituitarism had a reduced life expectancy.Aims: To assess mortality ratio and to identify prognostic factors associated with mortality in patients with NFPA in the last decade.Methods: A 196 patients (83 F/113 M, mean age 52.7±0.9 years) with NFPA admitted in a single Neuroendocrinology Department between January 2001 and December 2010 were retrospec...

Background: Hyponatremia is a common electrolyte abnormality, especially in elderly, hospitalized patients, with a prevalence of severe hyponatremia (<125 mmol/l) up to 6–8%. Pituitary insufficiency (TSH+ACTH) may be difficult to diagnose, but it is important to differentiate it from SIADH and cerebral salt wasting syndrome.Aim: To describe the aetiology and outcome of patients with hyponatremia due to pituitary insufficiency in a tertiary endoc...

Objective: To assess the usefulness of the GnRH analogue Diphereline (Triptoreline) in the evaluation of central gonadal dysfunction in children and adults.Methods: A 18-month retrospective study of dynamic testing of the hypothalamic pituitary gonadal axis in 36 patients, 10 prepubescent children (<13 years for girls and 14 years for boys) and 26 postpubescent subjects. The children were investigated for disorders of sexual development while the adu...

In pheochromocytoma, intense lypolitic activity may lead to altered lipid profile, which can reverse after tumour removal.Aim: In this study, we evaluated before and at 3 months after surgery for a cathecholamine secreting tumour, a group of 19 patients diagnosed with pheochromocytoma (17) or paraganglioma (2).Patients and methods: 13 women and 6 men, aged 53.68±12.75 years (36–75), presented with a clinical picture of pa...

Introduction: Ovarian hyperthecosis is a rare cause of severe hyperandrogenism. Unlike PCOS, it is also described in postmenopausal women.We report the case of a 67-year-old obese (BMI=37.5 kg/m2) and dyslipidemic woman, gravid 5 para 3, menopause at 49, with poor controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus (HbA1c=10%). She was in treatment with insulin for the last 12 years, currently on 168 U/24 h (1.71 U/kg)- indicating severe insulin resistance, c...