Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Over 90% of the blood supply to the adenohypophysis arises from hypothalamic portal vessels, in contrast to the systemic blood supply to the posterior lobe. A pre-existing, or tumour stimulated direct (non-portal) blood supply has been suggested as a possible pathogenic mechanism for prolactinoma development.Methods: 6 patients (3 microprolactinomas (mic), and 3 macroprolactinomas (mac)), and one control subject were imaged using a 3T magnet...

Cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF) rhinorrhea is a recognised complication of pituitary surgery, and occasionally occurs following pituitary radiotherapy. Macroprolactinomas (MPRL) may result in spontaneous or dopamine-agonist-induced CSF leaks, however no detailed large comparisons have been made with non-functioning adenomas (NFA). The incidence of this phenomenon and the mechanisms underlying it are not understood.We have performed a retrospective review of s...

Objective: Macroprolactinomas (MPRL) may result in spontaneous or dopamine-agonist-induced CSF rhinorrhoea. The incidence of, and mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are poorly understood. In this study, we aimed to determine the incidence of non-surgical (spontaneous and dopamine-agonist-induced) rhinorrhoea, and to identify biochemical, radiological and histopathological factors associated with this phenomenon.Methods: We retrospectively reviewed MPR...

It has been suggested that primary medical treatment of patients with acromegaly using somatostatin analogues (SSA) is as effective at controlling GH levels as post-operative SSA therapy.We have carried out a prospective study in patients harbouring GH secreting macroadenomas to see, in a within-patient comparison, whether debulking pituitary surgery improved GH control on lanreotide compared with that obtained pre-operatively. Local Ethical Committee ap...

Clinical insulin resistance, concomitant with higher circulating insulin, is implicated in the pathogenesis of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in which there is abnormal lipid metabolism with changes in ovarian hormone production. SREBPs are key transcriptional regulators of lipid biosynthesis and therefore may be involved in changes occurring in PCOS. We have examined whether insulin and gonadotrophin regulate SREBPs.Local ethical approval was granted ...