Endocrine Abstracts

Context: Serum calcitonin (hCT) measurement may be useful for detecting medullary carcinoma (MTC), but the routine use of hCT and after pentagastrin stimulation to screen patients with nodular thyroid disease remains controversial.Patients: One thousand and seven patients (667 females, 440 males) with nodular thyroid disease and a mean age of 55±14 (mean±S.D.) years were included in the study. All patients did not have impaired r...

Background: Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) is the first enzyme in the pathway of catecholamine synthesis catalyzing the conversion of tyrosine to dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA). To establish a molecular marker for adrenal pheochromocytomas, we compared the expression in various adrenal tumors in comparison to normal adrenal glands.Methods: Tissue from 19 pheochromocytomas (PHEO), 20 aldosterone-producing adenomas (APA), 20 cortisol-producing adenomas (CPA), an...

Background: The diagnosis of hyperaldosteronism is hindered by the absence of a well-defined gold-standard. CYP11B2 (aldosterone synthase) belongs to the steroid-metabolizing enzymes catalyzing the last step of the aldosterone synthesis. To establish a molecular marker for aldosterone-producing adenomas, we compared the expression in various adrenal tumors.Methods: Tissue from 20 aldosterone-producing adenomas (APA), 12 hyperplasias associated with hyper...

Plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) to active renin concentration (ARC) ratio (ARR) is an established screening tool for primary aldosteronism. Previously we provided reliable cut-offs measuring PAC by a radioimmunoassay (RIA; Byk&DiaSorin) und ARC by an established immunoluminometric assay (Nichols Institute Diagnostics). Since the latter one is not longer available, we aimed to establish cut-offs for currently available assays.One hundred seven ...