Endocrine Abstracts

Large adrenal masses are strongly suggestive of malignancy. Nevertheless, bilateral adrenal masses are less common (around 20% of incidental adrenal lesions). Metastases and lymphoma are more frequent (especially when aging), and not so easy to differentiate on CT or MRI. Simple biological markers, such as plasma LDH or beta2microglobulin, could help.Case report: A 69-year-old patient was admitted for abdominal pain with progressive lethargy. Abdominal C...

Objective: To determine the outcome of pregnancy in hypopituitary women.Background: Rare situation, not studied enough: only two previous studies concerning 9 and 19 patients (Overton et Hall).Design: Multicentric, descriptive, prospective and retrospective study.Material and methods: Twenty-one pregnancies were registered in 14 hypopituitary women (defined as gonadotropic deficiency associated with at least ...

A 44-year old male patient with HIV-1 stage C2 presented with intermittent fever and weight loss (10 kg in 3 months). He was being treated with tenofovir/emtricitabine and atazanavir, and had a CD4 levels of 705/mm3 and HIV viral load of 1400 copies/ml. Upon admission, the complete blood panel showed anaemia and thrombocytopenia (haemoglobin: 75 g/l, platelets: 98 G/l), normal white blood cell count, normal hepatic tests and renal function, normal electrolytes and a...

Case history: Our patient is a 64 year old lady who had bilateral adrenalectomy in 1978 for Cushing”s disease. This was followed by radiotherapy in late 1978. To get further reduction of the ACTH producing pituitary adenoma she had transsphenoidal surgery in 1979 and then transfrontal craniotomy in 1982. This was followed by further radiotherapy in 1985. It left her with panhypopituitarism and she was on full hormone replacement. She presented to our hospital in late 2008...

In the human adrenal gland, serotonin (5-HT), released by subcapsular mast cells stimulates corticosteroid secretion through activation of type 4 serotonin receptors (5-HT4R) positively coupled to cAMP/proteine kinase A (PKA) signaling pathway and calcium influx. The 5-HT4R is principally expressed in zona glomerulosa cells explaining why 5-HT strongly stimulates aldosterone production but only exerts a modest stimulatory action on cortisol. Interestingly, in primary pigmented...

In human adrenals, serotonin (5-HT), released by subcapsular mast cells, increases aldosterone secretion through activation of type 4 serotonin receptors (5-HT4R) but only exerts a modest control on cortisol production. Interestingly, illicit synthesis of 5-HT in adrenocortical cells as well as overexpression of the 5-HT4R and ectopic expression of the type 7 receptor (5-HT7R) have been observed in bilateral macronodular adrenal hyperplasia res...

Background: Pregnancy in women with hypopituitarism has been described as presenting high risks of maternal and fetal complications but this is only based on 2 small size series.Objective: To reassess the prognosis of pregnancy in women with hypopituitarism.Methods: Multicentric, observational, retrospective study including 39 pregnancies in 28 women with gonadotropic insufficiency and at least one other pituitary hormone deficienc...

Background: Sex chromosome mosaic aneuploidy 46,XX/47,XXy (mKS-XX) is a very rare syndrome, with only twenty-one cases previously reported. No patients’ series with mKS-XX and no comparative studies between mKS-XX and the common homogeneous Klinefelter syndrome (KS) have so far been described.Aims: To describe the clinical, biological and socio-professional characteristics of the first series of previously unpublished patients with mKS-XX. To find p...

An 18-year-old male, presenting with unexplained weight loss, was found to have asymptomatic hypocalcaemia (adjusted 1.72 mmol/l, range 2.2-2.6 mmol/l) and hyperphosphataemia (2.05 mmol/l, range 0.8-1.5 mmol/l). He had a background of repaired perimembranous VSD, mild learning difficulties and developmental delay. Parathyroid hormone (PTH) was found to be undetectable and 25-OH Vitamin D insufficient (43 nmol/l). Urine calcium/creatinine ratio was elevated (0.81 mmol/mmol). Th...

BACKGROUND: There are wide ethnic differences in women's attitude to the menopause and hormone replacement therapy (HRT). We have surveyed the awareness and attitudes of Libyan women to the menopause and HRT. METHODS: An anonymous self-administered questionnaire on the knowledge and attitudes towards menopause and HRT was used. 353 women were studied (median age 31(20-60) years; 188 married, 157 single and 8 divorced/widowed). Majority had secondary (38%) or university (51%) e...