Endocrine Abstracts

Subclinical Cushing’s syndrome, defined as evidence of alterations of the HPA axis in patients without stigmata of hypercortisolism, is a frequent finding among patients with adrenal incidentalomas. It is well-known that this condition is associated with several co-morbidities, such as hypertension in 2/3 of the cases, diabetes in 1/3, and dyslipidemia, which impair the cardiovascular risk profile of those patients. Recently, different independent reports on the natural h...

Background: Acylcarnitines and sphingomyelins are key players of lipid metabolism at cytosolic, vesicular and cell membrane level. Their metabolism was found deranged in diseases of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis. Little information is available about levels of these compounds in the bloodstream and their circadian fluctuations. Dried blood spots (DBS) allow multiple autonomous and painless collections per day. However, poor biological validation data are available ab...

Introduction: Lipidomics is an emerging approach to characterize circadian rhythm alterations due to diseases of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis. Glycerophospholipids are membrane structural constituents and key players in cell signalling, homeostasis and inflammatory and immune responses. Among blood derivatives, serum may reflect the soluble fraction, whereas dried blood spot (DBS) may reflect the cell membrane fraction of these lipids. However, little information is...

Introduction: Recent studies demonstrated that circulating concentration of many metabolites fluctuates with circadian rhythmicity. However, detailed information on amino acid and biogenic amine daily variations is still lacking. Dried blood spot (DBS) sampling appears to be a convenient tool for studies requiring multiple daily sampling.Aim: To verify the validity of DBS as a suitable device, we compared serum and DBS levels and changes along the day of...

Introduction: The adrenal morphology in congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is poorly described in the literature, so that adrenal radiological evaluation is not recommended in patients with CAH. The aim of this study was to evaluate the adrenal morphology in a large cohort of adult patients with CAH due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency and its correlation with the subtype of CAH (non-classical-NCAH, simple virilizing-SV, or salt wasting-SW), the hormonal status and the treatment...

Introduction: Purpose of this study is to find a radiological score and to correlate radiological characteristics of adrenal adenomas and functional parameters to predict subclinical glucocorticoid secretion.Methods and materials: This retrospective study included 55 patients with adenomas, investigated through CT with adrenal protocol assessing diameters, HU values of the unenhanced and contrast enhanced phases (enhanced–E, and 15 min delayed enhan...

Introduction: The relationship between food intake and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis has been studied in the development of visceral adiposity and obesity. The HPA axis may interact with the reward system, thus influencing food choices. On the other hand, it has been shown that macronutrients differently modulate the HPA axis activity.The aim of this study was to evaluate the dietary habits in subjects with adrenal masses (adenoma o...

Introduction: Cardiovascular morbidity is more prevalent in primary aldosteronism (PA) than in essential hypertension. Preclinical studies have shown a possible association between ascending aorta dilatation and PA, probably mediated by the mineralocorticoid receptor.Patients and methods: A total of 84 patients attending the Endocrinology Unit of the S. Orsola-Malpighi University Hospital of Bologna, (Italy) were evaluated. Thirty-nine patients had a dia...

Background: Adrenal lipid poor adenoma (LPA) and adrenocortical cancer (ACC) may overlap in computerized tomography (CT). Radiomics recently emerged as new tool for malignant behavior identification.Aim: To assess radiomics utility for identification of ACC and LPA in adrenocortical masses with unenhanced (UE) CT scan attenuation≥10 Hounsfield Unit (HU).Methods: We retrospectively enrolled 50 patients, 38 radiologically defin...

Background: Cushing’s syndrome (CS) is a chronic disorder characterized by endogenous cortisol excess resulting in long-term metabolic and cardiovascular consequences. The identification of metabolic alterations related to hypercortisolism could be beneficial in tailoring treatments of co-morbidities. Our aim was to characterize the metabolic alterations of patients with hypercortisolism by targeted plasma metabolomic profiling.Methods: Subjects (<e...