Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Routine clinical use of arginine-vasopressin (AVP) is limited by its small molecular size and pre-analytical errors. In contrast, copeptin – a peptide of 39 amino acids co-secreted with arginine-vasopressin (AVP) - is a stable protein and its measurement represents a reliable measure of AVP concentration. The aim of this study was to analyze diagnostic role of copeptin in diagnosis of diabetes insipidus (DI) in patients treated for hypothalamic-pituitary disea...

Inactivating PTH/PTHrP signaling disorders (iPPSDs, historically named pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP)) are a group of rare disorders associated with resistance to parathormone (PTH) and other hormones due to impaired hormonal signaling via G protein coupled receptors. Hypercalcitoninemia has been reported in these patients, however very few reports are available. The aim of this study was to further investigate the prevalence and characteristics of hypercalcitoninemia in both ...

Background: In a previous study, we retrospectively analysed a group of patients with high insulin growth factor 1 (IGF1) but normal growth hormone (GH) suppression, identifying among them a subgroup of “micromegalic” patients presenting with clinical features of acromegaly and high rate of comorbidities. We therefore expanded our cohort of patients, extended the follow-up time and collected preliminary data on treatment response aiming to better characterize this co...

Introduction: The diagnosis of acromegaly is confirmed in the presence of high IGF-1 levels and inadequate suppression of growth hormone (GH) after glucose load. According to guidelines, a GH nadir (GHn)>0.4 ng/ml is considered diagnostic with ultrasensitive assays. However, some acromegalic patients with lower GHn, also called ‘micromegalic’, are reported, but a systematic collection of their clinical features is unavailable.Aim of the s...

Introduction: Endogenous hypercortisolism is associated with cardio-metabolic complications and promotes the deposition of lipids in different tissues, particularly in the liver. However, the prevalence of hepatic steatosis in patients with Cushing’s syndrome (CS) has been little investigated so far and only one previous study reported a prevalence of 20% using computed tomography. The aim of the study is to evaluate the prevalence of hepatic steatosis and the organ-speci...

Background: Pituitary tumors are mostly sporadic, but in less than 5% of cases they can be associated to genetic syndromes, so harbouring germline mutations. Familial pituitary tumors are often more aggressive, so it’s important to detect them, for both a better early diagnosis and genetic counselling. Before the development of Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS), Sanger sequencing was the most widely used method of DNA sequencing. Therefore, DNA samples were analysed follo...

Introduction: Hypotonic hyponatremia is frequently observed after pituitary surgery. In this context, use of vasopressin V2-receptor antagonists is not standardized. The aim of this retrospective study is to explore the role of Tolvaptan in the management of acute hyponatraemia after pituitary surgery.Methods: We collected clinical, safety and efficacy data of patients treated with Tolvaptan after pituitary surgeryin our Centre between April 2011 and Feb...

The aim of this study was to evaluate in a long follow-up time patients with acromegaly successfully treated by transphenoidal surgery (TNS) in order to establish the recurrence rate and the need of subsequent follow up.Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data of 283 acromegalic patients (168 females, mean age: 44.2 ±12.9 years) who underwent TNS for a GH secreting pituitary adenoma between 1980 and 2020, on regular follow-up at two Pituitary Units...

Background: COVID-19 represents a global health emergency and infected patients with chronic diseases often present a severe impairment. Adrenal insufficiency (AI) is supposed to be associated with an increased risk of infections which could trigger adrenal crisis. Our primary aim was to evaluate the incidence of COVID-19 symptoms and complications in AI patients.Materials and methods: We conducted a retrospective case-control study, in 279 patients with...