Endocrine Abstracts

Background: In the general population, sleep disorders are associated with an increased risk of cognitive impairment; moreover, people with dementia often have sleep disturbances. The prevalence of sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea, in acromegalic patients is higher than in the general population, and they may have a higher risk of cognitive impairment due to acromegaly treatment (i.e. Radiotherapy) or cardiovascular comorbidities. In the literature, data about the relation...

Background: Pasireotide LAR is a multireceptor targeted somatostatin analogue that has been shown to obtain a better biochemical control of acromegaly. However, pasireotide LAR could induce hyperglycemia in acromegalic patients with higher baseline glucose values. The devices that can track interstitial glucose levels such as continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) could be a useful for studying the impact of SSA on patients’ glucose status.Aim: We aime...

Background: Pegvisomant (PEG) is a second line medical treatment for active acromegalic patients. PEG efficacy is between 61.5 and 92% and even if it is administered daily its long half-life suggests a possible use with a non-daily regime.Aim: We aim to compare acromegalic patients on daily PEG administration (DP) with patients on non-daily PEG administration (NDP).Methods: We studied 43 acromegalic patients under PEG treatment bet...

Introduction: Acromegalic cardiomyopathy is characterized by myocardial hypertrophy and interstitial myocardial fibrosis at biopsy. We studied left ventricular hypertrophy -LVH- through echocardiography (-ECHO- 2-D standard echocardiography and Doppler analysis) and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) analysis. Myocardial fibrosis was studied with late enhancement technique (LE) and extracellular volume technique (ECV) at CMR.Methods: 25 patients -pts- (13 ...

Introduction: Epidemiological studies indicate that patients with acromegaly have increased mortality rates for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease (CVD). Potentials risk factors for increased CVD include hypopituitarism and cranial radiation therapy (CRT).Case Report: A 43-year-old acromegalic woman was admitted because of worsening headache, left lower facial numbness and left arm weakness. Two weeks later she developed a central palsy of the le...

Introduction: Available literature on series of patients affected by ectopic Cushing’s syndrome (ECS) deriving from neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) is relatively scarce. This is the first Italian multicentre study regarding clinicopathologic features, modalities of treatment, and survival of patients with NETs and ECS.Patients and methods: Retrospective analysis of data from patients with ECS from NETs collected in 14 centres between 1986 and 2014, ob...

Introduction: To date, two pharmacogenetic studies investigated the effect of the common exon 3 deletion of GH receptor (d3-GHR) variant in small series of acromegalic patients treated with Pegvisomant (Peg), suggesting an association of d3-GHR allele with better response to Peg.Aim: To assess the influence of d3-GHR variant in a large cohort of acromegalics with active disease and resistance to somatostatin analogues (SSA) treated with either Peg monoth...