Endocrine Abstracts

Neuroendocrine gastroenteropancreatic tumours (GEP–NETs) are considered rare malignancies that are characterized by their ability to produce a great variety of peptides that may cause characteristic hormonal syndromes. In this study, we examined the epidemiology, clinical behaviour and prognostic factors of GEP–NETs identified in Castilla La Mancha (Spain) from 1995–2010.Patients and methods: Two hundred and sixteen patients with GEP–...

Nowadays Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is not considered a lung specific disease: nutritional alteration, weight loss due to increased energetic expenditure, loss of muscle mass are systemic effects, correlated with the risk of hospitalization due to exacerbation (AECOPD). AECOPD, characterised by augmented indexes like C reactive protein, interleukin-6, procalcitonin and serum amyloid A (SAA), negatively influenced natural history of the illness and were found ...

Background: Nonautoimmune subclinical hypothyroidism is characterized by elevated serum levels of TSH in the presence of normal thyroid hormone levels and absence of anti-thyroid antibodies. As a result of a genomic-wide study, a strong association between three polymorphic variants in exon 1 of human phosphodiesterase 8B (PDE8B) gene (rs4704397, rs6885099 e rs2046045) and serum levels of TSH has been recently reported. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the frequenc...

Background: One of the main drawbacks of primary treatment of Graves’ disease (GD) with thionamide drugs (TD) is the high relapse rate estimated to be 50–60%. Fear about side effects, specially agranulocitosis and hepatic complications, is other drawback of this treatment option.Objective: To evaluate the clinical and/or biochemical characteristics that might predict relapse in patients with GD treated with TD.Design and ...

Introduction: The new guidelines for the management of hypothyroidism (HP) during pregnancy recommend a tighter treatment with levothyroxine (Lt4) to reach TSH values similar to those of pregnant women without thyroid dysfunction (TSH <2.5 mU/l in the 1st trimester-T- and TSH <3mu/l in the 2nd and 3rd T).Objectives: To assess the degree of control of HP in women followed during pregnancy according to the current criteria and the possible associat...

Background: Thyroid carcinoma is the most common endocrine malignancy. BRAF (V600E) mutation is the most frequent detected genetic change in papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTC). There are some discrepancies regarding the overall frequency of the mutation, its prevalence in PTC-variants and its relationship with clinicopathological parameters of poor outcome.Aims: To investigate the relationship of clinicopathological features of PTC with BRAF mutation wit...

Background: Urinary catecholamine measurement has been the mainstay for diagnosis of a phaeochromocytoma. Plasma metanephrine estimation has been introduced more recently although its precise position remains unclear. We have undertaken a retrospective analysis of patients who have undergone this test to assess its usefulness in the diagnostic process.Patients and methods: We evaluated all patients who have had plasma metanephrine estimation over the pas...

An augmented cardiovascular risk is present in adrenal incidentalomas (AI), as in overt hypercortisolism. Recent studies recommended epicardial fat (EF) thickness as a new marker of visceral adiposity and an indicator of cardiometabolic risk.In this study, we evaluated the possible relationship between EF thickness, indices of left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy and adipocytokines levels in AI.We studied 26 patients with AI (62.3&#17...

Thyroid incidentalomas was defined as newly identified thyroid lesions encountered during imaging study for non-thyroid diseases. In the last years, the use of FDG-PET/CT for staging of metastatic diseases was increased. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the FDG-PET/CT uptake, to identify a SUVmax cut off predictive of malignancy and to determine the FDG-PET/CT prognostic role in patients with thyroid incidentalomas. 42 patients (ptx) with incidental thyroid ...

Context: The desmopressin (DDAVP) test has been proposed to discriminate Cushing’s disease (CD) from Pseudo-Cushing states (PC); however, current information on its value is scarce and contradictory.Objective: To assess the ability of the DDAVP test in distinguishing between these conditions, with emphasis on subjects with mild hypercortisolism.Design: Retrospective/prospective study.Setting: Division of...