Endocrine Abstracts

Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a neuroendocrine tumour of the parafollicular cells of the thyroid gland accounting for 5–15% of thyroid carcinomas. Most medullary thyroid carcinomas occur sporadic while up to 25% are familial as part of the multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN-2). Most of the carcinomas have already metastasized at the time of detection. Surgical therapy is the treatment of choice in patients with MTC, both for patients with the familial and the...

Neurohypophyseal diabetes insipidus (DI) is said to be caused by familial forms in about 5% of cases1. Hereditary transmission is autosomal dominant in most families and is caused by a mutation in the arginine vasopressin (AVP) gene on chromosome 20p13, which encodes for a large precursor hormone.A 19-years old otherwise healthy patient seeked endocrine care for an inadequately treated DI. He reported about an undoubtful disease history with a...

Background: Acromegaly affects almost all organs, including the cardiovascular system. Long-term exposure to high levels of IGH and insulin-like-growth-factor 1 (IGF1) may lead to cardiomyopathy.Study design: Aim of our investigation was to study cardiac function in patients with active acromegaly using magnetic resonance imaging of the heart (cardiac-MRI) and echocardiography. Eleven patients with active acromegaly could be evaluated within a period of ...