Endocrine Abstracts

Human brown adipose tissue (hBAT) has recently been re-discovered and found to be functionally and metabolically highly active when exposed to cold. Advanced imaging technology, namely the development of hybrid positron-emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) scanners has been the premise for the progress. The main areas of activated BAT have been found in supraclavicular regions and in the neck, and paravertebral regions. When we quantified glucose uptake in these ...

Positron emission tomography (PET) is an imaging technique that enables direct observation of tissue radioactivity concentration over time in vivo. Unlimited number of natural substrates (e.g. glucose, fatty acid), substrate analogs can be labelled for use with PET. PET combined with tracer kinetic models measures blood flow, membrane transport, metabolism, ligand receptor interactions and recently also gene expression noninvasively and quantitatively.An...

In 2009 three independent research groups confirmed the existence of metabolically active brown adipose tissue in human adults. There is increasing evidence that enhanced BAT function can improve systemic health in humans by utilizing glucose and lipids from the circulation and by increasing metabolic rate. Therefore BAT activation could provide a strategy to combat the increasing epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes. The function of BAT is controlled by various endogenous ...

In primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) an exact localization of the pathological parathyroid gland(s) is essential before minimally invasive parathyroidectomy. We have previously shown in a small group of pHPT patients, that 11C-methionine-PET/CT provides additional information if 123I/99m Tc-sestamibi (MIBI) scan remains negative. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the clinical value of 11C-Met-PET/CT in a larger pHPT patie...

IntroductionInsulinomas are the most common functional neuroendocrine tumours of the pancreas. Because previous data on the long-term prognosis of insulinoma patients are scarce, we wanted to study the morbidity and mortality in Finnish patients previously treated for an insulinoma.Patients and methodsThe Finnish insulinoma register consists of all adult patients diagnosed with an insulinoma in Finland during...