Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Empty sella (ES) is often an incidental imaging finding, associated or not with the following symptoms: headache, hypopituitarism or visual impairment. Two etiological forms are described: primary ES due to a combination of increased spinal fluid pressure and a defect in the sella diaphragm and secondary ES due to the shrinkage of the pituitary gland (after pituitary surgery, radiation, apoplexy, hypophysitis or neurosarcoidosis).Clinical cas...

Background: Acromegaly is a rare disease characterised by an excessive production of growth hormone (GH), from a pituitary adenoma. It is a curable disease, either by surgery or by medical treatment, but very rare it can spontaneously cure by the apoplexy of the pituitary adenoma.Case presentation: We present the case of a 58-year-old female who was suspected of acromegaly due to her physical appearance: soft tissue swelling and enlargement of the extrem...

Introduction: The appearance and normal development of the anterior pituitary gland requires several signalling molecules and specific transcription factors, such as PROP1, POUF1, HESX1/RPX, LHX3, LHX4, PITX2, T-PIT, SOX2 and SOX 3. Gene mutations of these pituitary transcription factors may lead to different degrees of combined pituitary hormone deficiency (CPHD) associated or not with morphological changes of the hypothalamic–pituitary region.Mate...

Introduction: Parathyroid cyst is a very rare abnormality, representing 0.6% of all thyroid and parathyroid lesions. The diagnosis can be made on the basis of sonography and analysis of aspirated cystic fluid for parathyroid hormone. Parathyroid cysts are divided in two groups: functional (associated with clinical hyperparathyroidism) and non-functional. In the case of non-functional parathyroid cysts, fine needle aspiration is the elective treatment, but for functional parath...

IntroductionWe present the very rare case of a patient with ovotesticular disturbance of sexual development (DSD) by 46 XX/46 XY genetic chimerism.Case reportA 47-year-old patient with male appearance consulted for gynecomastia developed in the last 3 - 4 years. Clinical examination showed genital organs ambiguity with a small scrotum, no palpable testis, a clitoris instead of penis. Painful bilateral gyn...

Background: Sheehan’s syndrome occurs after a delivery complicated with hemorrhage causing ischemic pituitary necrosis and panhypopituitarism. It is rare for a patient with Sheehan’s syndrome to obtain recovery of the pituitary function. We report the case of a patient with Sheehan’s syndrome who obtained a spontaneous pregnancy 2 years after the initial diagnosis.Case presentation: A 23-year-old-woman, without a significant personal medic...

Background: Prolactinomas are the most common hormone-secreting pituitary tumors and are a common cause of anovulation and infertility. Giant prolactinomas (0.5–4.4% of all pituitary tumors) are rare tumors characterized by their large size (>4 cm), compressive symptoms and extremely high prolactin secretion (>1000 ng/ml). Men are most commonly affected, with a reported male to female ratio of 9:1.Case report: We present the rare case of 53-...

Introduction: Hypothalamic obesity is defined as a syndrome of intractable weight gain as a result of hypothalamic lesions. Craniopharyngioma is responsible for more than half of the cases of hypothalamic obesity, but other pathologies can be implied. The syndrome can occur due to the tumour itself or its treatment (surgery or radiotherapy). Metformin is an antidiabetic drug that has also been used to treat nondiabetic obese patients, as it has been demonstrated to promote wei...

Background and objective: One of the key features of thyroid gland cancer evaluated at palpation is the degree of firmness: malignant lesions tend to be much harder than benign ones. US elastography is combining the diagnostic advantages of high-frequency US examination and the accuracy of thyroid cancer diagnosis based on the lesion’s stiffness. The aim of our prospective study was to evaluate the elastographic appearance of thyroid gland tumours and to explore the sensi...

Background: The aim of this case report is to underline the possible etiological link between paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT) and hypothyroidism, although supraventricular arrhythmias are ordinary features of hyperthyroidism. We present the case of a patient with repetitive episodes of PSVT whose autoimmune hypothyroidism was diagnosed and thyroxin replacement therapy leaded to remission of arrhythmia.Methods: A 47 year old women with a lo...