Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: The present study is designed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of pasireotide-long-acting release (LAR) in patients with acromegaly inadequately controlled after ≧3 mo treatment with the maximal approved doses of first-generation SSAs.Methods: Phase IIIb, multicentre, single-arm, open-label study.Patients: Adults (N~112) with inadequately controlled acromegaly (mean GH>1 μg/l and IGF-1>1.3xULN) desp...

Introduction: Sporadic neuroendocrine neoplasms (NEN) occur rarely in young-adult (YA) patients, with an estimated incidence is about 2.8 cases per million, and data specific to their epidemiology are limited. The aim of our study was to better characterize the natural history, prognosis and management of NEN in YA patients (≤ 35 years old) compared to adult-elderly (AE; >35 years old).Methods: A retrospective observational study including 204 ...

Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a rare type of tumor that originates from parafollicular C-cells and accounts for 3–4% of all malignant thyroid neoplasms. MTC presents as sporadic (75–80%) or inherited tumors (20–25%). Hereditary MTC is part of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN2). Aim of the study was to describe clinical presentation, prognosis and therapy of sporadic MTC patients. Sixty-seven patients (pts) with histologically confirmed MTC refe...

Neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) can be sporadic or can arise in complex hereditary endocrine disorders such as multiple endocrine neoplasias (MENs), familial paragangliomatosis (FPGLs), neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), von Hippel–Lindau disease (VHL), tuberous sclerosis (TSC). It has been estimated that hereditary NET occurrence varies with site of origin of the tumour, representing 5–30% of all cases of NET. These rates seems to be an underestimation and novel mutation...

To determine a correlation between Vitamin D, GH, IGF1 and cardiovascular risk we enrolled. 41 GHD patients (22 M, 19 F, age 18–84 years) and 41 controls. In all we determined: anthropometric parameters, blood pressure (BP), lipid and glucose profile, PTH, 25-OH-vitamin D, GH peak after GHRH+ARG, IGF1. Metabolic syndrome (MS) was evaluated by the IDF criteria.The vitamin D were lower in patients than in controls (21.3±12.3 vs 28.2±9.4, <em...

Introduction: Around 20–30% of patients with acromegaly have hyperprolactinemia, which is associated with infertility and gonadal/sexual dysfunction. Current therapy involves somatostatin analogues for GH/IGF1 excess and a dopamine agonist to decrease prolactin levels. The objectives of this analysis were to assess treatment with pasireotide LAR or octreotide LAR alone in patients with acromegaly and hyperprolactinemia.Methods: Patients with acromeg...

Women with CAH have decreased fertility and sexual activity because of psychological aspects and genital status. The aim of this study was to evaluate sexual function and psychological attitudes in 18 women with CAH due to 21-HD (12 with non-classical, four with salt-wasting and two with simple virilizing CAH; 20–48 yrs) under standard treatment, and 18 age-matched healthy women. Sexual function was evaluated by a validated Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) questionnair...

Introduction: In addition to its well known effects on calcium homeostasis and bone metabolism, growing evidences shows that vitamin D plays an important role in regulation of cancer angiogenesis, cell apoptosis, differentiation, and proliferation. Vitamin D acts through vitamin D receptor (VDR), an intracellular nuclear receptor. It was found an association between different cancer histotypes and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of VDR. Despite the close relationship be...

Introduction: The reactivation of autoimmune disorders has been described in patients with hypercortisolism after normalization of cortisol secretion. This phenomenon is probably related to the loss of immunosuppressive effect of endogenous glucocorticoids. This is a report of two patients with Takayasu arteritis (TA) and Cushing’s disease (CD), a novel association never described in literature, in whom TA was exacerbated after normalization of cortisol secretion.<p c...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is often diagnosed at late stage or metastatic condition. Surgical resection is considered treatment of choice and other treatment options include chemoembolization, radiofrequency ablation and photodynamic therapy. We evaluated the expression levels of the 5 somatostatin receptors (SSTRs) in 23 biopsies of HCC patients and also mTOR, p70S6K and 4eBP1 in HuH-7 and HepG2 and investigated the in vitro effect of somatostatin analogs (SA) and ...