Endocrine Abstracts

The clinical response to somatostatin analogue (SMS) treatment in acromegaly is highly variable. In unselected, previously untreated patients, biochemical control is achieved in 20–50% of patients, and mean overall tumour shrinkage has been reported to 25–40%.The somatostatin analogues exert their effects through binding to the somatostatin receptor (SSTR) localized in the cell membrane. The available analogues bind with high affinity to SSTR2,...

Introduction: The proto-oncogene KIT (CD117) is widely expressed in neoplastic tissues. Gain-of-function mutations of the KIT gene were found in some types of leukaemia, gastrointestinal stromal tumours, germinal cell tumours and rarely in other malignancies. Studies on the KIT protein and gene in different tumours have been intensified by the availability of imatinibe mesylate, KIT/PDGFRA inhibitor.Methods: We have immunohistochemically investiga...

Background: Signal intensity in T2 weighted (w) MRI in somatotroph pituitary adenomas has been described to correlate with histological granulation pattern. Long-term somato-statin analogue (SSA)-response is associated with both histological subtype and T2wMRI.Objective: To describe secretory baseline characteristics in newly diagnosed acromegalic patients in relation to T2 signal intensity. Moreover, to test whether T2 w images could predict preoperativ...