Endocrine Abstracts

Aim: Anogenital distance (AGD) is a biomarker for the prenatal hormonal environment. Scarce evidence exists regarding the effect of prenatal androgen exposure in mothers with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) on the human fetal AGD. The aim of the study was to assess the prenatal sonographic measurement of AGD in fetuses of PCO mothers vs the general population.Materials and methods: AGD was measured prospectively infetuses at 26–37 weeks of gestati...

Introduction: Two aetiologies are responsible for postpartum hypopituitarism; Sheehan’s syndrome which develops following traumatic labour, and lymphocytic hypophysitis. Since management of lymphocytic hypophysitis does not require surgery in most cases, pathology is usually absent, and the clinical presentation, in combination with laboratory and imaging characteristics establish the diagnosis. We aimed to describe the various patterns of presentation, including assistin...

Non-functioning pituitary-adenomas (NFPAs) represent the most common pituitary tumor-type. To date, there are not clinical, biochemical, anatomo-pathological, immuno-histochemical or molecular parameters useful to predict their remission. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the potential relationship between the clinical, biochemical and pathological characteristics of patients with NFPAs, the expression profile of these tumours and the clinical outcomes during th...

Craniopharyngiomas are rare benign epithelial tumors derived from remains of Rathke’s pouch. They are more prevalent in childhood, adolescence, and adults <50 years, and, commonly, are usually diagnosed after being associated with serious comorbidities when the development of the tumor is already advanced. To date, first-line therapy is usually surgery, but frequently the resection is not complete, causing high rates of recurrence. Therefore, the identification of ne...

Gliomas are a common tumor type that affects the glial cells with common features of malignant tumors such as aggressive invasiveness, malignant transformation and vascular proliferation through the central nervous system. Currently, standard therapeutic strategies to treat malignant gliomas are not efficient having alow-rate survival (~12 months). Hence, there is a clear necessity for the identification of novel diagnostic/prognostic tools and therapeutic strategies to m...

Non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPAs) represent the most common type of pituitary adenomas. NFPAs are mostly macroadenomas (>1 cm) at diagnosis and, despite their lack of functional hormone hypersecretion, are associated to severe comorbidities related to mass effect (i.e. headaches, visual defects and hypopituitarism). Transsphenoidal surgery is the mainstay of NFPAs treatment, although it is often not definitive, mainly due to the invasion of neighboring intracrania...