Endocrine Abstracts

Background: There is currently no agreed consensus for the optimization and titration of mineralocorticoid (MC) therapy in patients with primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI).Objective: To explore the relationship between serum (sFC) and urine (uFC) fludrocortisone levels and biochemically and clinically important variables, and to assess their utility in guiding and titrating MC replacement.Methods: Multi-centre, observational, cros...

Background: There is currently no agreed consensus for the optimization and titration of mineralocorticoid (MC) therapy in patients with primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI).Objective: To measure serum (sFC) and urine (uFC) fludrocortisone levels and explore their relationship with biochemically and clinically important variables (including treatment compliance) in order to evaluate their usefulness as markers to guide the MC replacement titration.<p ...

Background: Burned-out tumours (BOT) are rare clinical entities which present with no primary testicular lesion but distant metastases. We report a difficult management of BOT.Case Presentation: A 22-year-old male presented to ER with acute low back pain, severe vomiting and sweating. In past medical history: bilateral orchidopexy for cryptorchidism. Abdominal CT scan displayed two retroperitoneal masses of 35 and 20 mm. The patient was discharged with s...

Objective: 2–3% of the population of the UK receive glucocorticoid (GC) therapy. Significant adverse effects are not confined to chronic use: recurrent short-course administration is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Data about the cumulative dose responsible for drawbacks during GC treatment are still lacking. The aim of this study was to test the impact of 7 days of 10 or 15 mg of Prednisolone on metabolism in healthy male volunteers.<p class="abste...

Objective: Currently, 2–3% of the population of the UK and US receive glucocorticoid (GC) therapy. Significant adverse effects are not confined to chronic use; recurrent short-course administration is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The efficacy of GC therapy is not in doubt but data about the cumulative dose responsible for adverse effects during GC treatment are still lacking. The aim of this study was to test the impact of 7 days of 10 or 15 mg of Pr...

Background: Patients with adrenal incidentalomas and possible autonomous cortisol secretion (pACS) suffer from a high rate of cardiovascular events and mortality. We have previously showed that left ventricular mass index (LVMi) is higher in patients with pACS, compared with patients with non-functioning adenomas (NFA). To date, the management of pACS is still controversial, with a lack of consensus regarding the benefits of surgery.Objectives: This pros...

Background: Overt hypercortisolism is highly associated with venous thromboembolism. Patients with Cushing’s syndrome (CS) typically show an alteration of the intrinsic coagulation pathway, especially an increase in factor VIII (f-VIII), and increased levels of coagulation inhibitors (i.e., antithrombin III) as a compensatory response. Mild autonomous cortisol secretion (MACS) has been variably associated with higher risk of cardiovascular events and mortality compared to...

Background: Patients with adrenal insufficiency (AI) require long-term glucocorticoid (GC) replacement therapy and generally show an increased prevalence of bone metabolism alterations. Only few data are available on bone safety of dual-release Hydrocortisone (DR-HC) therapy.Objective: To evaluate bone metabolism in both primary AI (PAI) and secondary AI (SAI) during long-term therapy with DR-HC.Methods: We studied patients with AI...

Background: Patients with Cushing’s syndrome (CS) typically show an alteration in the intrinsic coagulation pathway, leading to an increased risk of venous thromboembolism. Cortisol autonomy has been variably associated with higher risk of cardiovascular events and mortality compared to patients with non-functioning adrenal adenomas (NFA), particularly in women younger than 65 years. However, dedicated studies describing coagulation status in patients with adrenal inciden...

Background: Hyperandrogenism in postmenopausal women is extremely rare and requires exclusion of malignancy.Case reports: 1. A 65-year-old woman was referred to our Department of Endocrinology for appearance of hirsutism and alopecia for about 2 years. Abdomen-pelvis CT scan showed a 2-cm lesion (45 HU) at the left adrenal gland, confirmed by MRI scan, without loss of signal intensity in opposed-phase sequences. In addition, in the right ovary, a 3-cm le...