Endocrine Abstracts

Pituitary adenomas are among the most common brain tumours and can result in significant morbidity (e.g. blindness), reduced quality of life, and death if left untreated. Transsphenoidal surgery is the mainstay of treatment for the majority of symptomatic pituitary adenomas and has the potential to offer a cure. However, many series describe high rates of treatment failure and recurrence - in functioning adenomas (e.g. up to 20% in Cushing’s Disease) and non-functioning a...

Background: Hypopituitarism is often part of the presenting clinical manifestation for patients with non-functioning pituitary macroadenomas (NFPMs). Rate of recovery of hypothalamic-pituitary endocrine axes following therapy is uncertain with no clear predictive factors.Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the degree of hypopituitarism recovery following surgery and radiotherapy in patients with NFPMs. Methods: All patients t...

Background: Rathke’s cleft cysts (RCC) are benign intrasellar cysts that originate from the remnants of Rathke’s pouch and contain mucoid material. Most are asymptomatic, but some may compress adjacent structures leading to visual disturbances and endocrinopathies.Case Report: A 20-year-old gentleman had an MRI Head in view of headaches. This showed a 17.7 mm peripherally enhancing suprasellar lesion with no intrinsic T1 high signal pre- contra...

Background: Non-functioning pituitary macroadenomas (NFPMs) may present with hypopituitarism. Pituitary surgery and radiotherapy pose an additional risk to pituitary function.Aims: The aim of this study was to assess the incidence of hypopituitarism pre-operatively and the impact of surgery and radiotherapy on pituitary function. Methods: All patients treated with surgery and radiotherapy for NFPMs between 1987 and 2018 with more t...

Introduction: Hyponatraemia is a relatively common complication following pituitary surgery. However, there is sparse data about its optimal management and impact on clinical outcomes.Aims: To review the treatment and patient outcomes of hyponatraemia following pituitary surgery.Methods: A retrospective single-centre study included all inpatients who developed serum sodium (sNa) ≤ 132 mmol/l following pituitary surgery f...

Background: While dopamine agonists (DAs) are used for managing residual/recurrent non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPAs), guidance on patient selection, drug dosing, follow-up imaging and response criteria is lacking.Methods: Retrospective review of NFPAs treated with DAs at a U.K single centre. 14 patients on Cabergoline (November 2011-2022) were identified. Radiological response was based on 2 follow-up (FU) scans...

Background: The management of craniopharyngiomas remains controversial.Objective: This study sought to examine temporal trends in the management of craniopharyngioma and their impact on long-term patient outcomes, with focus on endocrine consequences.Methods: This was a cross sectional, multicentre study. Patients treated between 1951 and 2015 were identified and divided into four quartiles based on the date of initial surgery. Pat...

Non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPAs) are the second most common subtype (15-43%) of all clinically presenting pituitary adenomas. Although the primary treatment of symptomatic NFPAs is surgery, gross total resection is achieved only in about 66% of the cases, and 20% of gross total resected tumours recur after 10 years. Despite recent advances in medical management of pituitary tumours, NFPAs remain the only subtype with no widely accepted pharmacological treatment. Expr...

Background: There is no effective medical treatment available for non-functioning pituitary neuroendocrine tumours (NF-PitNETs). Recurrence (7-12%) or incomplete resection (30-45%) is a common feature. Thus, finding novel medical therapies to help the management of these tumours would be of great value. By using high-throughput mass spectrometry combined with functional characterisation, we explored novel therapeutic targets for NF-PitNETs.<p class="abstex...