Endocrine Abstracts

Pituitary apoplexy in patients with Nelson’s syndrome has rarely been described. We report the case of a 33-year-old woman with a history of bilateral adrenalectomy for Cushing’s disease three years previously. Following adrenalectomy, despite adequate replacement therapy with prednisone and fludrocortisone, she became hyperpigmented, morning serum ACTH level rose from 185 to over 1250 pg/ml (normal range 10–60) and the pituitary tumour increased from 0.8/0.3 to...

The clinical spectrum of chronic hypocalcemia mimics various neurological and psychiatric pathologies. Although infrequently encountered, the diagnosis of non-iatrogenic primary hypoparathyroidism has to be considered in order to avoid severe complications or at least to improve neurological manifestations.We present two unrelated cases of primary hypoparathyroidism clinically manifested in adulthood (case 1) and childhood (case 2). Very low-levels of PT...

Introduction: In normal subjects GH is a hyperglycemic hormone as opposed to insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1). Active acromegaly is associated with insulin resistance (IR) and glucose intolerance although both GH and IGF1 are elevated. Our objective was to assess whether GH, IGF1 or both are risk factors for IR and glucose intolerance in acromegaly.Methods: Basal serum IGF1 and GH, glucose and insulin during an oral glucose tolerance test were measure...

Introduction: Acromegaly is associated with an increased mortality in untreated patients. Recent papers suggest an improvement of survival in the last years.Aims: To assess mortality ratio and to identify prognostic factors associated with mortality in acromegaly in the last decade.Methods: 297 patients (186 F/111 M, mean age 49.8±0.7 years) with acromegaly admitted in a single Neuroendocrinology Department between Jan 2001 an...

Colocalisation of hormones has been demonstrated for growth hormone (GH) and prolactin in the normal adult human pituitary, and for many other hormones in pituitary adenomas. We have investigated whether colocalisation of GH and other hormones occurs earlier, during onto-genesis. Pituitaries from therapeutically aborted male human fetuses of 15–20 weeks gestational age (with ethical approval) were fixed by immersion in 4% buffered formaldehyde and divided in halves, one o...

Colocalisation of hormones in the adult human pituitary has been demonstrated only for growth hormone (GH) and prolactin (PL) and only for adenomatous tissue. We have investigated whether colocalization occurs earlier in ontogenesis. Pituitaries from male human fetuses of 16–22 weeks gestational age fixed by immersion in 4% buffered formaldehyde and embedded in LR Gold were processed for immunocytochemical double labelling with GH/FSH or GH/LH anti-rat and anti-human prim...

Introduction and objective: This study aims to report if hormone therapy modifies sleep architecture and dreams in menopausal women. Women with no hormone therapy for flushes usually present sleep deprivation and daily sleepiness as a result of nocturnal arousals. Estrogen and progesterone brain receptors can influence memory and cognition processes. Dreams modulators are cognition, socio-cultural factors, personality and brain physiology (REM/NREM percents, circadian influenc...

BACKGROUND: Dopamine agonists are the treatment of choice in macroprolactinomas. A number of these tumours do not respond to the commonly used doses. In such cases the outcome after alternative approaches has not been clarified.AIM: To assess the response of macroprolactinomas to bromocriptine (BRC) or cabergoline (CAB) and the result of further interventions in resistant cases.PATIENTS AND METHODS: All records of the patients pres...

The blood-brain barrier for peptide hormones is protective for the maternal brain.OBJECTIVE: To compare peptide hormone levels on the two sides of the blood cerebrospinal fluid barrier in pregnant, non pregnant and menopausal women.METHODS: We investigated, with the approval of the local ethics committee, 35 healthy pregnant women at term, aged 21-41 years (group G), 27 non-pregnant women aged 21-43 years (group C) and 15 menopausa...

Introduction: The heel Quantitative Ultrasound (QUS) evaluates the bone health, with good results if the clinical risk factors are also evaluated for each patient. Among these, the body mass index (BMI) may be protective or risk factor for a fragility fracture, depending on the values.Aim: We present a study in postmenpausal women evaluated by QUS and BMI.Patients & method: This is a study in 330 patients (women in menopause wh...