Endocrine Abstracts

The prevalence of gallstones (GS) is increased in acromegaly and is further increased by somatostatin analogue (SA) therapy. The incidence has variously been reported to be between 10 and 63%, but they are often asymptomatic and rarely require definitive management. However, there is evidence suggesting that discontinuation of SA therapy may precipitate acute biliary problems.We have analysed our experience of symptomatic gallstones in all 44 patients (2...

Without adequate treatment patients with acromegaly die prematurely from cardiovascular disease (CVD); however the contribution of atherosclerosis in this process is controversial. Increased carotid IMT is an early morphological marker of atherosclerosis and predictor of subsequent cardiovascular events. Contradictory data exist regarding IMT in patients with acromegaly.We measured carotid IMT in 79 patients with acromegaly (47 male, mean age 55±14 ...

IGF-I is a marker of activity of the growth axis. It is accepted that the interpretation of IGF-I values requires age- and gender-specific reference ranges (RR).We have studied IGF-I assay performance by circulating 2 blood samples with different clinical scenarios to 23 centers [IDS-OCTEIA (n=2), DPC-Immulite (3), DPC-Immulite 2000 (4), in-house RIA (1), Nichols-Advantage (10) and Nichols-IRMA (3)] participating in the UK-NEQAS IGF-I scheme. Participant...

Approximately 50% of patients with severe AGHD (defined by the international consensus criteria, peak GH <3 ng/ml) have a normal age- and gender-related IGF-I. It remains unclear whether in these individuals IGF-I is GH-dependent.We performed a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, cross-over study on the effect of pegvisomant (20 mg daily for 14 days) on the relationship between GH and IGF-I in 3 age-, gender- and BMI-matched cohorts (Norms:...

Approximately 50% of patients with severe AGHD (defined by the international consensus criteria, peak GH <3 ng/ml) have a normal age- and gender-related IGF-I. It remains unclear whether in these individuals IGF-I is GH-dependent. We performed a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, cross-over study on the effect of pegvisomant (20 mg daily for 14 days) on the relationship between GH and IGF-I in 3 age-, gender- and BMI-matched cohorts (Norms: 5 GHD patients with n...