Endocrine Abstracts

Pituitary macroadenomas usually present with symptoms due to a local mass effect or to hormone abnormalities. Acromegaly is due an excessive GH production, usually caused by a slow-growing pituitary adenoma. Acromegaly is an insidious disease. An average delay of 7 years is reported between the time of symptoms onset and diagnosis. According to main symptoms, acromegaly is usually diagnosed by internists, ophthalmologists or rheumatologists. It may be suspected by pneumologist...

Introduction: Cushing’s syndrome (CS) is a medical condition resulting from a chronic excessive exposure to glucocorticoids. ACTH-dependent CS are mostly caused by pituitary adenoma (about 80-85% of the cases) and, in a lower proportion, by ectopic ACTH secretion (about 10-15% of the cases). The exact origin of an ectopic secretion of ACTH is not always easy to identify. The most common locations are bronchus, lung and pancreas but it can also be located ...

Background: Cardiovascular disease is an important cause of morbidity/mortality in chronic GH hypersecretion.Aim: To evaluate cardiovascular system in a large series of patients with pituitary gigantism. Standard case report forms were used with height assessments related to local country norms. Results: 151pts (123 male) with GH-excess and abnormal growth velocity for age or final height >2SD over local norms had complete data on cardiac assessments...