Endocrine Abstracts

A rare and aggressive form of thyroid malignancy, medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is virtually incurable except by complete surgical resection. Due to its insidious onset and extensive spread at diagnosis, its prognosis is often poor.Aim: To evaluate treatment outcome and prognosis in patients diagnosed with MTC admitted to our department between 2004 and 2013.Patients and methods: We identified 21 patients (eight men and 13 wome...

Background: Patients with macroprolactinoma often present with pituitary hormone deficits associated with hyperprolactinaemia or mass effect. Restoration of normoprolactinaemia and tumour shrinkage by dopamine agonist is expected to reverse, at least partially, the pituitary dysfunction. Studies assessing prospectively the pituitary function in subjects with macroprolactinoma treated with cabergoline are lacking.Aim: To check the time course of recovery ...

Introduction: Graves’ disease (GD) is an autoimmune disorder causing hyperthyroidism. Variations of functional profile as well as type and titer of thyroid specific antibodies makes the control often difficult. One treatment option is adding levothyroxine to anti-thyroid drugs (ATDs), so-called block-replace therapy (BRT).Aim: To study the BRT impact on lipid profile, thyroid function tests (TFTs) and TSH receptor antibodies (TRAb). <p class="ab...

Background: Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) is overexpressed in almost all human cancers (including thyroid). High serum levels are generally associated with an adverse prognosis, although the evidence related to thyroid cancer is still controversial.Aim: We aimed to evaluate pre- and post-surgical serum MMP-9 levels for its diagnostic and prognostic value in a series of patients with benign thyroid disease (BD) or differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DT...

Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is an aggressive form of malignancy, virtually incurable except by complete surgical resection. With insidious onset and occasional rare clinical variants, it is often diagnosed late in the course of disease and has a poor prognosis. We aimed to evaluate diagnostic efficiency, treatment modalities and outcome in patients admitted to our department between 2004 and 2015, diagnosed with MTC, with emphasis on rare clinical presentations. We ident...

Objective: To determine if the response to one single dose of 0.5 mg cabergoline (CAB) can be used as predictor for choosing personalized therapy of hyperprolactinaemia. Although CAB is a selective, long half-life D2-receptor agonist some patients proved to be resistant with minimum to no response in serum prolactin and tumour shrinkage, even after a few months of treatment.Patients and methods: A dose of 0.5 mg CAB was administered orally to a number of...

Introduction: Severe hirsutism and virilisation, especially if occurring later in life and with rapid onset, should prompt the search for rare but potentially threatening causes such as an androgen secreting ovarian or adrenal tumour.We present the case of a 47-year-old woman referred to our clinic with obesity, severe hirsutism, alopecia, acne, and deepening of the voice that appeared insidiously 2 years ago, along with amenorrhoea which she interpreted...

Often discovered incidentally, small foci (≤2 cm) of papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTC) are its most frequent presentation. Despite favourable prognosis, the extent of surgery and use of radioablation is still controversial.Objective: Prospective cohort study of all patients admitted between 2007 and 2011, for thyroid surgery in the Institute of Endocrinology, Bucharest, Romania, and had pT1a or pT1b PTC.Patients and methods:...

Aims: GH deficiency (GHD) is associated with increased cardiovascular events. We aimed to evaluate cardiac, arterial, and endothelial function, by conventional and 2D speckle tracking echocardiography (STE), and biomarkers (proBNP and troponin I), in GHD patients by comparison with normal individuals with similar cardiovascular risk profile.The study included 52 GHD patients (46.9±15.6, 36 males), free of cardiovascular disease, severe hypertension ...

Introduction: Occurring sporadically or as part of a familial syndrome, medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is insidious in onset, aggressive in behavior and invariably a challenge to the clinician and surgeon.Objective: To define the relationship between biochemical parameters, disease progression, and treatment outcome in patients with MTC.Patient and methods: We studied 35 patients (11 men, 24 women) aged 50.9±14.8 years, adm...