Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Acromegaly secondary to an extrapituitary source of GH or GHRH is rare, usually associated with bronchial/thymic carcinoids, neuroendocrine enteropancreatic tumors or extrasellar somatotropinomas. Few series of acromegalic patients with negative pituitary imaging and lack of an ectopic source are reported in the literature.Methods: We report the clinical history and the laboratory and imaging results of an acromegalic woman with no clear ev...

Introduction: Occult neuroendocrine tumors are still a difficult diagnostic/therapeutic challenge.Case report: In November 2007, a 29-years-old Caucasian woman was admitted to our in-patients clinic with a 2-month history of rapidly progressing signs and symptoms of chronic hypercortisolism, including a bipolar disorder in psychosis. On admission the patient presented with hypokalemia (3.2 mEq/l), high levels of plasma (3164 nmol/l) and urinary free (26 ...

Introduction: Since Addison disease is relatively rare and difficult to recognize in childhood delayed diagnosis is common. Patients with adrenal insufficiency generally show hypotension, hypoglycaemia, hyponatriemia, but can also manifest mild symptoms like chronic fatigue, nausea, vomiting, weight loss, recurring abdominal pain and psychiatric symptoms. In this regard mild disturbances in mood, motivation and behavior represent the main clinical features showing a prevalence...

Introduction: Although overall accuracy of fine needle aspiration (FNA) in identifying thyroid cancer is considered excellent, 20–30% of aspirates do not allow definitive diagnosis of malignancy. Proto-oncogene somatic mutations such as BRAFV600E in FNA strongly suggest the presence of malignancy. However, only few studies reported the use of circulating BRAFV600E-mutated alleles in plasma as an useful marker for non invasive diagnosis and follow up of this disease.<p...

Introduction: Ectopic ACTH-dependent Cushing’s syndrome (ACS) may present with different clinical pictures and it may represent a diagnostic challenge.Methods: We describe the clinical presentation and the laboratory, imaging and pathologic findings of three patients with ectopic ACS.Results: Case 1. A 31-year-old man with a 1-year history of spontaneous rib and vertebral fractures was admitted to our hospital for ACS evaluati...