Endocrine Abstracts

Several studies suggest that mortality rates due to cardiovascular disease (CVD) are increased in patients with hypopituitarism. We retrospectively assessed the prevalence of known diabetes, treated hypertension and dyslipidemia, known risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD), in a large population (n:250) of patients with hypothalamic-pituitary disease. We then prospectively screened 90 such patients for the following CVD risk factors: obesity, diabetes mellitus, smoking...

A 53 year old woman developed a firm thyroid mass which was removed. The histology of the thyroid mass showed auto-immune thyroiditis and Langerhans cell Histiocytosis ( LCH). She also complained of thirst and polyuria. A water deprivation test confirmed cranial diabetes inspidus (CDI) ,the symptoms of which resolved on DDAVP . A glucagon stimulation test showed a blunted growth hormone (GH) response of 13.3 milliU per litre with an IGF-1 level of 16 nanomol per litre. The cor...

Background: Weight gain is underrecognised in patients with hypothalamic damage and the prevalence and mechanisms are poorly defined. The aim of this study was to define the diagnoses and endocrine characteristics associated with weight gain.Subjects and methods: A retrospective study of 48 patients (25 female) mean (SD) age 45.3yrs (9.8).They included 22 patients with primary hypothalamic lesions (craniopharyngiomas, Rathke's cysts and other tumours)[g...

Background & Aims: An increased prevalence of obesity among patients with prolactinoma (PR) and weight loss after treatment (specially in male patients) has been reported1,2. On the other hand, weight gain after treatment has been observed in another study3. In this study we looked at the evolution of body weight in 37 patients with PR, 22 macroprolactinomas (MAPR) and 15 microprolactinomas (MIPR).Methods: We conducted a retrospective s...

Background: Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) can rarely be associated with underlying endocrine disorders such as Cushing’s syndrome, hyperthyroidism or with administration of thyroxin or growth hormone. We describe a case of acute adrenal deficiency presented along with IIH.Case history: A 24-year-old Caucasian female (body mass index 21 kg/m2) presented with nausea, vomiting and collapse. She had several months of generalised ...

Background: The availability of genetic testing has major implications for family management in MEN syndromes. In order to offer systematic genetic and endocrine screening for type 1 and type 2 MEN we invited patients with possible MEN syndromes to a dedicated clinic.Outcomes: In the first year 16 subjects (from 12 families) were seen, with a total of 28 previous or current tumours (12 hyperparathyroidism, 10 pituitary and 6 foregut tumours). Eight subje...

Background: numerous studies using a variety of quality of life (QOL) measures have shown multiple impairments in adults with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) compared to control subjects. There have been few studies however of QOL in a treated GHD population compared with healthy controls.Method: 120 adults with treated GHD ( >1 year) were given the following QOL questionnaires at annual review: SF36, Nottingham Health Profile, Disease Impact, Life F...

Background: We previously demonstrated that elderly patients with GHD have increased and young GHD patients have reduced cardiac sympathovagal balance. Therefore we decided to investigate whether the relationship between age and cardiac sympathovagal balance is altered in GHD compared to healthy controls.Method: HRV, which indirectly measures cardiac sympathovagal balance, was measured in 22 untreated GHD patients (13 F; mean age 47.4 yrs; range 19-73 y...

Objectives: There is some evidence that growth hormone deficient (GHD) children with a common polymorphism of the growth hormone receptor (GHR) gene, resulting in deletion of exon-3 (d3GHR) on one (d3/fl) or both alleles (d3/d3), have a better growth response to rhGH than those who express exon 3 on both alleles (fl/fl). We speculated that adult patients with this polymorphism may also be more sensitive to rhGH and less likely to be symptomatic from GHD th...

Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) is an important growth factor, simulating the process of angiogenesis which is required for tumour progression. It mainly acts through 2 receptors VEGF-R1 and VEGF-R2. Whilst the presence of VEGF has been shown in pituitary adenomas, no study has undertaken the quantification of the expression of VEGF121, VEGF165, VEGF-R1 and VEGF-R2, and whether their expression may correlate.METHODS. We have used the technique of quantitative RT-...