Endocrine Abstracts

Peptide long-acting somatostatin receptor ligands (SRLs) are a first line medical treatment for acromegaly but are not efficiently absorbed when delivered orally. Years of injections with SRLs are associated with variable dose delivery, injection site reactions, and excessive life burden. Paltusotine (CRN00808) is a nonpeptide small molecule somatostatin type 2 (sst2) receptor agonist with high oral bioavailability (70%) and a 42–50 hour terminal elimination half-life in...

Background: Mitotane is an adrenolytic chemotherapy, currently accepted as first line adjuvant therapy in adrenocortical carcinoma. Mitotane has a narrow therapeutic window. Serum levels of >14 mg/l are required to achieve a cytotoxic effect and levels of >20 mg/l are potentially toxic. There are two strategies for mitotane initiation: a low-dose regimen (3 g) and a high-dose regimen (increase to 6g/day over 4 days and reduce to 4.5 g/day after 10 days).<p class="...

Background: Pituitary metastases are a rare complication of systemic malignancy. The most common presentations of pituitary masses include visual field defects, headaches, and hypopituitarism, but cranial nerve palsies and diabetes insipidus are also recognised although unusual. We aimed to determine if these were more frequently associated with pituitary metastasis.Methods: We conducted a review of 944 patients undergoing pituitary surgery from a teachi...

Introduction: Previous studies investigating cardiovascular (CV) risk in obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have been potentially confounded by not adequately accounting for body weight.Objective: To assess if PCOS increases CV risk independently in young obese women by examining carotid intima-media wall thickness (cIMT) and platelet function.Design: A cross-sectional study comparing women with PCOS (n=21) ...

Background: Cushing’s disease is caused by corticotroph tumours of the pituitary gland and the standard first-line treatment is trans-sphenoidal surgery. Published data from other centres describes post-operative endocrine remission achieved in 50–90% of cases.Table 1 Remission (cortisol <50)Cortisol (50–150 nmol/l)<td alig...

Background: Kopetschke et al. (2009) suggested that nearly thirty per-cent of adrenal/extra-adrenal phaeochromocytoma were found incidentally1. However, they included cases from 1973 to 2007, whereas in the modern era CT and MR investigations are requested more frequently and earlier in the diagnostic algorithm.Methods: We report a pilot series of consecutive referrals to a tertiary centre for adrenal and extra-adrenal phaeochromocytoma from July ...

Prolactin (PRL) is a peptide hormone produced by the anterior pituitary gland and it is commonly known for its lactogenic and mammotrophic effects. In humans and primates, prolactin is also expressed in extra-pituitary sites where it is associated with numerous biological functions, but its spectrum of expression varies in different species.Hyperprolactinemia-induced osteoporosis is believed to be mediated by hypogonadism, but the expression of the prola...

The prohormone T4 represents the majority of circulating thyroid hormones, whereas 80% of the active hormone T3 is derived from T4 by the actions of the type 1 and type 2 deiodinase enzymes (D1 and D2). Local generation of T3 by D2 regulates ligand supply to the nuclear T3-receptor in pituitary, brown adipose tissue and brain, and this enzyme is also expressed in bone. Hypothyroidism in children causes delayed bone age and growth retardation, whereas thyrotoxicosis in adults c...

Soy phytoestrogens (PE) have been shown to improve insulin resistance and lipids but may adversely affect thyroid function.Objective: To determine the effects of soy PE on thyroid function, insulin resistance and lipid parameters in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism.Design: A randomised, double-blind, crossover study was undertaken involving 60 patients with subclinical hypothyroidism. Patients were randomly assigned to eith...

Standard therapy (ST) for chronic hypoparathyroidism (HPT) includes calcium and active vitamin D supplementation, which can be associated with an increased risk of renal complications. This study compared renal function change, assessed by estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) over 5 years between HPT patients receiving rhPTH1-84 as an adjunct to ST and a historical control cohort without rhPTH1-84. rhPTH1-84-treated HPT patients were selected from two single-arm, long-t...