Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Subclinical hypothyroidism (SH) is a frequent clinical condition with a prevalence of 3–15% in general population. It is defined by elevated TSH levels with normal thyroid hormones [free thyroxine (FT4) and free triiodothyronine (FT3)]. Similar to prolactin, high TSH levels may be caused by macroTSH, a large molecular sized TSH with a low bioactivity. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of macroTSH in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism....

Objective: The current cut-offs to diagnose adrenal insufficiency (AI) have been established using outdated immunoassays. More modern methods have demonstrated less cross-reactivity with other steroids. The aim of our study was to evaluate the correlation between the cortisol assay Roche Cortisol I (R1), the newly available Roche Cortisol II (R2) and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), the gold standard procedure for the measurement of steroids.<p cl...

Objective: The identification of hyperandrogenism represents the cornerstone for the assessment of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOs). However, its definition has always been troubling, mostly because of the poor accuracy shown by routine androgens assays. As suggested by literature, the application of more precise steroid measurement methods (such as liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, LC-MS/MS) could improve the diagnostic workup. The aim of our study is to evaluat...

Background: Severe congenital growth hormone deficiency (cGHD) is a rare but potentially life-threatening condition. Even though random growth hormone (GH) can confirm cGHD during the first week of life, the diagnosis remains extremely challenging in the absence of reliable reference values in healthy neonates and thus of a best diagnostic cut-off.Aims: First, to provide solid reference values for GH concentrations in term newborns, by means of a non-inv...

Background and Aim: Congenital growth hormone deficiency (cGHD) is a rare but life-threatening condition whose diagnosis is challenging in the absence of reliable reference values, both in healthy neonates and in preterm ones. We recently estimated GH reference interval in 1036 healthy, at-term newborns (HN) form dried blood spot samples using a previously validated analytical method. Aim of this study is to provide values for random GH in preterm newborns (PN).<p class="a...