Endocrine Abstracts

Dysthyroid optic neuropathy (DON) is a sight threatening complication occurring in 3–5% patients with Graves’ orbitopathy. The medical treatment consists in the infusion of high dose of methylprednisolone (MP), while surgical orbital decompression is mandatory in patients non responding to the medical treatment. We aimed at studying the response to high dose steroids in DON and parameters for predicting therapy effectiveness. Twenty-three patients with DON were studi...

We have retrospectively studied the clinical outcome of 58 patients (14 men and 44 women) with autoimmune thyroid disease and active GO, treated with high dose intravenous methylprednisolone (MP; cumulative dose 7.5 g). Ophthalmological assessment was performed at baseline and at 6, 12 and 24–30 weeks after the first MP infusion. In 43/58 patients we have also studied NR3C1gene polymorphism, which has been associated to different sensitivity to steroids. The therapeutic o...

Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) affects 1:2.000–3.000 newborns. In most cases, the cause is a developmental defect (dysgenesia) or an arrested migration (ectopia) of the thyroid gland. In the remaining cases TSH resistance or defects in iodide transport or thyroid hormonogenesis account for CH. The differential diagnosis is aimed to recognize permanent CH forms and to achieve an etiologic diagnosis for accurate management and genetic counselling. Appropriate investigations...

BAFF, a member of the TNF family, promotes autoantibody production by increasing B cell survival and proliferation. We have previously shown that serum BAFF concentrations are increased in GD patients. In the present work, we studied the expression of BAFF and BAFF-R, by immunohistochemistry (IHC) on paraffin embedded sections of: 1. orbital adipose tissue from 22 patients (5 men, 17 women) with GO (3 of them with active GO) associated with GD or Hashimoto thyroiditis in 19 an...