Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Hyponatremia(HN) is frequent in the emergency room(ER), yet often ignored, or poorly studied/managed. Our objective was to determine the characteristics of patients presenting HN at the ER of a general hospital.Methods: Retrospective analysis of all 347 patients(AllP) presenting/developing non-translocational HN (serum sodium (SNa)<135 mmol/l) the first 48 h at the Hospital Clinico San Carlos ER in August 2012. Volemia was determined by...

Phaeochromocytomas (PCC) and paraganglioma (PGL) are neural crest tumours arising from the chromaffin producing cells of the adrenal medulla or sympathetic/parasympathetic system respectively. Recently, in part due to advances in high throughput sequencing, our understanding of the genetic predisposition to these tumours has greatly increased. To date, 13 genes have been implicated in the pathogenesis of these conditions (ten available for testing at our centre). Recent studie...

Introduction: Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) has a poor prognosis and limited therapeutic options. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression was found to be a good discriminator between malignant and benign adrenal tumours, but was mutated only in 3–10% of ACC cases.Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of inhibition of EGFR with targeted therapies, i.e. Erlotinib (with and without EGF stimulation) on ACC cell proliferatio...

Background: Muscle weakness persists in patients with acromegaly (ACRO) even long-term after disease control. Mechanisms determining this sustained impairment are not known. We hypothesized that alteration of muscle architecture, due to intramuscular fatty infiltration, is associated with muscle dysfunction in these patients.Patients and Methods: Thirty-seven acromegalic patients [21 females and 16 males, mean (± s.d.)age, 53 ± 9 years...

Introduction: In patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, the prevalence of osteoporosis is higher in comparison with the general population. Anti-retroviral therapy (ART) use seems to be a possible risk factor there is also high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among people living with HIV.Objectives: To describe bone mineral density (BMD) status in HIV-infected patients as well as its associated risk factors such as vit D levels.</...

Background: Adrenocortical tumours (adenoma or carcinoma) present in well-recognised ways: hormones excess (Cushing’s, Conn’s, virilisation) or hormonally silent with symptoms of mass effect, or found incidentally on imaging. We present 3 cases of adrenal tumours, referred to our regional adrenal multidisciplinary meeting with unusual presenting features.Case 1: post-menopausal bleeding: A previously well 57-year-old female presented with vagin...

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease is present in up to 60% of patients diagnosed of acromegaly and is responsible of the major related morbidity and mortality.Case report: A 79-year-old-woman with previous history of diabetes mellitus and hypertension was admitted for acute pulmonary edema. Transthoracic echocardiogram showed a severe left ventricular dysfunction with an ejection fraction of 20%, dilated left ventricle and left atrium with a moderate m...

Background: Adrenal venous sampling (AVS) is considered the gold standard for lateralisation of aldosterone production in patients with primary aldosteronism (PA). However, in some patients AVS is not technically successful and management may depend on radiological findings.Aim: To determine 1) the success rate of AVS and 2) the outcomes after surgery related to the lateralisation modality.Method: 156 patients were included who pre...

Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (panNETs) are the second most common neoplasm of the pancreas. panNETs arise from cells of the pancreatic islets and comprise a diverse and heterogeneous group of neoplasms. This hampers their systematic study, and the identification of common molecular signatures that might facilitate a better diagnosis of the disease, and the development of efficient therapeutic approaches. Indeed, there are no clinical, biochemical, anatomopathological, immu...

Introduction: Ectopic Cushing’s syndrome (ECS) is due to ACTH secretion of no pituitary neuroendocrine tumors and represents around 5–10% of all cases of ACTH dependent Cushing’s syndromes.Methods: Six cases of ECS diagnosticated from 2008 to 2017 were studied. Patients’ age ranges from 36 to 69 years (mean 53), four females and two males. Three had pancreatic tumors, two small cell lung carcinomas and one pheocromocytoma. At diagnosi...