Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Glucocorticoids play a key role in determining body fat distribution. Excess circulating glucocorticoids lead to intrahepatic fat accumulation. Obesity is associated with enhanced glucocorticoid production but this is offset by enhanced degradation such that circulating steroid concentrations are normal. However, tissue-specific pathways may lead to different degrees of cortisol exposure in different organs. Local steroid exposure in the liver is determined by the ...

Background: Untreated Cushing’s disease has a high mortality rate. Transsphenoidal surgery is usually first line treatment and in the hands of a skilled experienced surgeon can achieve a cure rate of up to 80%. For those with recurrent or un-resectable disease, a combination of external beam radiotherapy, stereotactic radiotherapy, repeat transsphenoidal surgery, bilateral adrenalectomy and chemotherapy may be used. We investigated the safety and efficacy of stereotactic ...

Objective: Succinate dehydrogenase B (SDHB) germline mutations are associated with predominantly extra-adrenal paraganglioma (PGLs) and high rates of metastatic disease. Bladder paragangliomas are a rare form of chromaffin cell tumours arising from the bladder wall. The aim of the study is to highlight the preponderance of bladder paragangliomas associated with SDHB gene mutations.Design: Retrospective case series.Patients: Five of...

While pituitary adenomas (PA) usually occur as a sporadic disease, an increasing number of patients are recognised with a family member also suffering from a PA. If no other syndromic features are present, these families are categorised as FIPA. In published studies, 20% of the FIPA families, 20% of sporadic childhood and 13% of sporadic young-onset (≤30 years) acromegaly patients carry a germline AIP mutation. As familial disease is more aggressive, family scre...