Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Recent studies show that traumatic brain injury (TBI) and aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) are frequent causes of long-term disturbances of hypothalamo–pituitary function. Still little is known about risk factors and clinical characteristics of pituitary impairment after brain damage. This study aimed to address these questions on a larger scale by establishing a national registry of these patients.Methods: All centers treating p...

Objective: Insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) is associated with metabolic parameters and involved in glucose metabolism. Low IGF1 has been implicated in the etiology of glucose intolerance. However, epidemiological data are scarce and the role of IGF1 in prospective studies is not clear to date.Research design and methods: We measured IGF1 levels in 7665 subjects free of diabetes from two German prospective cohort studies, the DETECT study and SHIP and...

Introduction: There is a long delay between the onset of symptoms and correct diagnosis of acromegaly. This study aimed to explore the potential of hand size as a screening tool of acromegaly. Here we present first results of a new screening project.Method: We measured scan-copies of acromegalics (n=27, 9 women, age 18–84 years) and controls (n=111, 71 women, age 19–81 years) and analyzed surface areas of palm and thenar and m...

Introduction: Treatment with dopamine agonists in patients with PRL adenomas has been associated with weight loss in short-term studies. However, long-term studies on weight changes are lacking. Taq1A is a restriction fragment length polymorphism considered as a gene marker for the D2DR gene. The presence of at least one A1 allele is linked to reduced brain dopaminergic activity due to reduced receptor binding and lower density of the dopamine two receptor.<p clas...

Background: Low testosterone levels in men occur with increasing age and are associated with increased morbidity, particularly metabolic syndrome, and mortality. As the prevalence of hypogonadal testosterone levels has not been assessed in the primary care setting in Europe, we aimed to investigate the prevalence of low testosterone levels in this setting, and the patient characteristics and comorbidities associated with it.Methods: We measured testoster...

Objectives: Acromegaly is associated with elevated cardiovascular morbidity. Medical treatment of acromegaly does not only lead to a normalisation of the somatotroph axis, but can also negatively influence cardiovascular risk factors and comorbidities.Methods: In a cross-sectional study, we evaluated cardiovascular risk markers (glucose, HbA1c, triglycerides, cholesterol, HDL, LDL, lipoprotein a, homocystein, CRP) in relation to biochemical control and m...

Objective: Diagnosis of acromegaly is often delayed up to 10 years after disease onset despite obvious visual changes, bone and soft-tissue deformities. We hypothesized that a reduced sense of body perception in acromegaly, possibly mediated by psychiatric or cognitive alterations, might contribute to the delayed initiation of a diagnostic work-up.Design: Cross-sectional study.Methods: We investigated perceived body image ...

Introduction: It has been shown that face classification software might help distinguishing between subjects with and without acromegaly on regular photographs. In this project, we investigated several aspects that will be necessary and helpful to bring this recognition method closer to clinical application.Methods: Face classification was based on nodes placed on frontal and side photographs of individuals and analysis the underlying texture and geometr...

Background: In acromegaly, few in vivo data exist on changes of the brain parenchyma as a pathology caused by systemically elevated levels of GH and IGF-1. This is in contrast to neuropsychiatric symptoms such as depression, cognitive impairment, personality changes and pain syndromes that accompany the condition. We aimed at measuring brain tissue volumes and white matter pathology in acromegaly.Methods: Forty-three patients (age 54±14 years...

Recent evidence shows that patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) are at substantial risk of hypopituitarism. However, the pathomechanisms are still not completely understood. Little is known about the association of morphological changes in the sella region with pituitary function in TBI. In this study, we assessed morphological abormalities of the sella region in patients with TBI and their relation to endocrine function.We have studied MR or CT sc...