Endocrine Abstracts

Lipodystrophy including familial, acquired and secondary forms displays the full spectrum of the metabolic syndrome including severe insulin resistance, hyperinsulinaemia; hypertension, hypertriglyceridaemia, low HDL cholesterol, and hyperglycaemia1. This group have an absolute or partial reduction in fat mass, yet often show more extreme metabolic features than obese individuals.Partial lipodystrophy may be genetic or acquired. Genetic causes...

Background: Cushing’s disease (CD) may be associated with equivocal results on biochemical investigations.Aim: To evaluate the usefulness of dexamethazone suppression tests in the diagnostic work-up of CD.Patients and methods: Seventy patients with CD [median age 38 yrs(16–76), 53 females] presenting between 1976–2005 were studied. 24-hr urinary free cortisol (UFC), overnight (oDST) (1 mg at 23:00 h), low dose (LDDST...

INTRODUCTION: Although IGF-I is considered to reflect the daily GH secretion, its value in establishing the diagnosis of adult growth hormone deficiency (GHD) and in predicting the presence of further anterior pituitary deficits has not been elucidated in a large series.AIM: To evaluate the diagnostic utility of a subnormal IGF-I in patients with GHD and to investigate whether a low IGF-I is associated with the presence of further anterior pituitary defi...