Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: Conflicting findings have been published regarding the pressure wave reflection and the arterial stiffness in young women with PCOS as opposed to the overt ab initio presence of endothelial dysfunction compared with controls which can be reversed six months after metformin administration. The aim of this study was to investigate arterial stiffness and wave reflections in young women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) with respects to the different weight...

Introduction: Postmenopausal virilization with acute onset and rapid progression requires a thorough investigation for the presence of adrenal or ovarian tumor. We present here a challenging case of a radiologically not visible and rare androgen-hypersecreting ovarian tumor.Case report: A 71-year old postmenopausal woman presented to our department for the investigation of terminal hair growth, of recent onset and rapid progression, on the upper lip, chi...

Primary hyperparathyroidism is a rather frequent disorder characterized by high plasma PTH and calcium. Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent in all areas of the world. Vitamin D deficiency has been described in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism. When present, vitamin D deficiency may be associated with large size parathyroid adenomas and musculoskeletal pain.The aim was to describe two cases of primary hyperparathyroidism and vitamin D deficiency.</...

Acromegaly is known to be associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Additionally, acromegaly is known to be associated with disordered carbohydrate metabolism. Lipid levels in acromegaly have not been extensively studied. The aim was to study lipid levels in acromegaly.Methods: In 32 patients with newly diagnosed acromegaly lipid levels were studied. In particular total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels were measu...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is known to be associated with cardiovascular comorbidity. In particular, patients with RA are known to be at increased for the development of atherosclerosis. Treatment with biological agents in RA may affect lipid levels.Aim: The aim was to study the effect of rituximab treatment on lipid levels in RA patients.Methods: In a cohort of 20 patients with RA lipid levels were studied before, 6 and 12 months a...

Introduction: Delayed diagnosis of a cardiovascular event is related with higher case-fatality rate in women as compared to men. In fact, accumulating evidence supports an association between the menopausal status and the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). We aimed to assess the extent of subclinical vascular disorders in young, healthy postmenopausal women, with respect to the calculated cardiovascular risk.Methods: This cross-sectional study ...

Wegener’s granulomatosis is characterized by necrotizing granulomatous vasculitis. It occurs initially in a localized form, disseminates in various degrees and particularly involves the respiratory tract and kidneys. It is an ANCA-associated vasculitis, a systemic disease of autoimmune aetiology. Recently vitamin D deficiency has been associated with the development of autoimmunity. The aim was to present a case of Wegener’s granulomatosis in a patient with vitamin D...

Introduction: AGEs have been shown to be accumulated in granulosa cell layer from human ovaries in normal and in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and insulin resistance. AGEs interfere with insulin signaling pathways of several target tissues and are implicated in insulin resistance mechanisms. There is evidence that within the ovary these pathways are also important for glucose metabolism and normal folliculogenesis. The effect of human glycated albumin (HGA) eit...

Introduction: Acromegaly is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, in part, as a consequence of the increased insulin resistance that frequently accompanies GH hypersecretion. Glucose tolerance may worsen in patients treated with somatostatin analogs (SSA).Objective: To compare the long term effects of SSA treatment to successful surgery on glucose metabolism in Cretan acromegalic patients.Design and meth...

Introduction: The possibility of progression of subclinical hyperthyroidism (SH) to overt hyperthyroidism (OH) is a critical point in deciding whether to treat this situation.The aim of this study is to evaluate the rate of progression of SH to OH and the factors influencing this outcome.Methods/design: This is a retrospective study at an endocrine referral service in Northern Greece. Data from patients with SH diagnosed between 19...