Endocrine Abstracts

The evaluation and treatment of pheochromocytoma and primary aldosteronism have evolved dramatically since these two forms of endocrine hypertension were first detected and treated in 1926 and 1954, respectively. We will review the challenges that surrounded the management of the prismatic cases of these two disorders and the advances that have occurred since the initial descriptions.For example, the biochemical testing for pheochromocytomas has progress...

The first patient with a catecholamine-secreting paraganglioma that was sucessfully resected was in 1926. Over the past 97 years, there has been a dramatic evolution in the clinical presentation, methods used to diagnose and localize, and germline genetic testing of paragangliomas (PGLs). When contrasted to adrenal pheochromocytoma, PGLs present the clinician with unique challenges, which include: 1) diverse location—they may be located anywhere from the tympanic membrane...

Objective: We examined whether sequential enhancement patterns of pituitary microadenomas on dynamic MRI correlates with different subtypes of pituitary tumors.Materials and methods: Patients with pituitary microadenomas imaged via dynamic MRI between years 2000 and 2012 were included. The intensity of the adenoma and of normal gland at each time point in the dynamic sequence was measured by drawing a region of interest (ROI) on both the normal pituitary...

Context: Phaeochromocytomas are rare, but potentially fatal, neoplasms. The diagnosis and localization of phaeochromocytoma can be challenging and recently there has been some debate regarding the role for adrenal venous sampling (AVS). The utility of AVS in this setting is hampered by a lack of normative value data for adrenal vein catecholamine concentrations and the reliability of lateralization ratios. We sought to address these concerns by analyzing AVS catecholamine conc...

Objective: There is limited evidence on the diagnostic accuracy of imaging tests in patients at high risk for adrenal malignancy. Our objective was to determine the performance of computed tomography (CT) and 18FDG-PET/CT imaging in diagnosing a malignant adrenal mass in a high risk population of patients referred for CT-guided adrenal biopsy.Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 378 patients who had percutaneous adrenal ...

BackgroundBenign adrenocortical tumours are found in 3–5% of adults and can be non-functioning (NFAT) or associated with cortisol excess. The latter group divides into patients with clinically overt signs (adrenal Cushing’s syndrome, CS) and patients lacking CS signs (mild autonomous cortisol excess, MACE). The 1 mg-overnight dexamethasone suppression test (DST) further differentiates MACE into MACE-1 (possible MACE; post-DST cortisol 50–1...