Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Long-term treatment with dopamine agonists (DAs) is considered to be the first-choice therapy for prolactinomas. According to current guidelines DAs can be safely withdrawn in patients with negative pituitary MRI and stable normalization of prolactin levels for at least 3 years. On the other hand, recent studies have shown an increased risk for valvular heart disease in patients with Parkinson’s disease treated with high doses of cabergoline. The aim of this s...

Introduction: Midnight salivary cortisol measurement (MSC) has been recently introduced as a diagnostic test for hypercortisolism. The aim of our study was to compare the diagnostic value of two methods of screening for Cushnig’s syndrome (CS): MSC and 24-h urinary free cortisol (UFC), wildely accepted as a ‘gold standard’ for this diagnosis.Patients and methods: Three groups were studied: 30 patients with CS (mean age±S.D.</sm...

Introduction: Apart from being individually associated with cardiometabolic health, Vitamin D and growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor-1 (GH/IGF-1) axis are reported to interplay, with a positive correlation between IGF-1 and 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D). These findings raise questions about the role of vitamin D for the adverse cardiovascular (CV) risk profile in hyposomatotropism. Thus, the aim of our study was to investigate the association between 25(OH)D and metabol...

Introduction: Vitamin D and growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor-1 (GH/IGF-1) axis are reported to interplay at both endocrine and paracrine levels, with a positive correlation between IGF-1 and 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) in healthy subjects. Hyposomatotropism is among the conditions predisposing to lower vitamin D status due to several direct and indirect mechanisms. Thus, the aim of our study was to evaluate vitamin D status in a representative sample of adults with ...

Until recently primary aldosteronism /PA/ was thought to be rare, accounting for no more than 0.05–2% of the hypertensive patients. Studies published in the last decade demonstrate that primary hyperaldosteronism is a much more common cause of secondary hypertension than was previously thought, accounting for as many as 5% to 25% of hypertensives in some series. For the present, there are no data concerning the prevalence of PA in Bulgaria which determined the realization...

Metabolic abnormalities in adult GH deficiency (AGHD) determine its significance as a disease associated with increased cardiovascular risk. However, recent contradictory data about the long-term beneficial effects of GH replacement, especially on cardiovascular risk, provoked some further analysis of its contributory factors.Aim of the study: To identify the individual risk factors of metabolic syndrome (MS) in AGHD and to compare the prevalence and the...

Introduction: Acromegaly is a chronic disease with a serious impact on patients’ morbidity, mortality and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). Recently a disease-specific questionnaire assessing HRQOL in acromegaly was developed (AcroQoL). Using this tool we have compared QoL in patients with controlled versus uncontrolled acromegaly.Patients and methods: It was a prospective, cross-sectional study. For the period 2007–December 2008 163 pati...

Increased secretion of GH results in gigantism in children/adolescents and in acromegaly in adults; the relative roles of the various genetic causes of acromegaly and gigantism are still unclear. To analyse the genetic causes and inherited/familial features in patients with pituitary gigantism, we studied a large international cohort. Genetic or inherited characteristics were observed in 39% of patients and included familial isolated pituitary adenomas (FIPA; n=28), M...

Background: Experimental studies have demonstrated that prolactin is a potent immunomodulator influencing both humoral and cell-mediated responses. In accordance with these data, our retrospective studies revealed higher prevalence of autoimmune thyroid diseases in prolactinoma patients compared to general population.Design: A prospective cross-sectional case–control study was carried out in a single tertiary referral centre.A...

Background: The phase 3, open-label SONICS study of levoketoconazole demonstrated sustained reduction in mean urinary free cortisol (mUFC) in adults with endogenous Cushing’s syndrome (CS). The extended evaluation phase (Ext) of SONICS reported here further assessed long-term safety, tolerability, and benefit/risk of this treatment.Methods: SONICS consisted of dose-titration (150 – 600 mg BID to attain maximally tolerated dose for mUFC normal...