Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Isolated hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH) often occurs in the pre-pubertal period but it can also manifest in post-puberal age. Recent position statements and guidelines differentiate between a ‘true’ hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, intended as congenital or acquired organic defect (characterized by frankly pathological total Testoterone values, TTe <3.5 nmol/l), and a ‘false’ or functional hypogonadism, associated to older age and comor...

Background: ACTH-secreting pituitary adenomas represent two-thirds of Cushing’s syndrome (CS), the so-called Cushing’s disease (CD). These tumors are sometimes >10 mm in maximal diameter (macro-CD), but the majority of them are <10 mm (micro-CD). The aim of this study was to compare baseline characteristics of patients with micro-CD and macro-CD.Materials and methods: Clinical, hormonal and radiological data of 226 patients with CD were...

Repeated pregnancy loss (RPL), defined as two or more spontaneous abortions, may be associated with autoimmune thyroiditis (AT), either isolated or associated with polyautoimmune disorders (PD), which include antiphospholipid syndrome. An increased occurrence of RPL has been reported in patients with isolated AT but very few data are available on the influence of concurrent auto-aggressive disorders on RPL and this represented the aim of our study. A cohort of 1765 consecutive...

Introduction: Osteoporosis and vertebral fractures (VFs) commonly occur in overt and subclinical primary hyperthyroidism. In this clinical setting, bone damage is caused by the direct effects of thyroid hormone in excess on bone remodeling, although there is also evidence that low thyrotropin (TSH) values may play a role in driving fracture risk. In fact, TSH was shown to have direct inhibitory effects on osteoclastogenesis and bone resorption. Based on these data, one could a...

Background: The treatment of choice in patients with Cushing Disease (CD) is pituitary surgery (PS). A successful PS is generally followed by adrenal insufficiency (AI). Although the remission rate after PS may reach 96.6% of cases, approximately 1/3 of cured patients experience the recurrence of the disease during lifetime. The aim of this study was to analyze the duration of AI in relation with the recurrence of CD.Materials and methods: We performed a...

Objective: This study was aimed to evaluate the prevalence of non classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21-NCAH) in hyperandrogenic women in the reproductive age attending our Endocrinology Unit and to identify specific phenotypic traits among clinical, biochemical and hormonal features.Setting: Outpatient Unit of Endocrinology, S. Orsola-Malpighi University Hospital of Bologna, Italy.Patients a...

IntroductionMetabolic homeostasis in the testis is essential for a healthy spermatogenesis. Insulin is regarded as one of the most important intervenients in the metabolic regulation of spermatogenesis, where it acts directly on the differentiation of spermatogonia into primary spermatocytes or indirectly through the metabolic modulation of Sertoli cells. Additionally, insulin is hypothesized to play a major role on human spermatozoa capacitation, althou...

Stressful condition and negative emotions can contribute to the overproduction of proinflammatory cytokines and promote immune dysregulation, which, in turn, increases the risk of various diseases, including autoimmune disorders. The present study was aimed at evaluating the relationship, if any, between psychological and individual characteristics (stress, coping and emotional intelligence) and thyroid autoimmunity.MethodWe enroll...

Background: Cushing’s syndrome (CS) in medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is rare with less than 60 cases reported. Less than 1% of MTC develop ectopic ACTH-dependent CS and this correlated with metastasis at diagnosis and poor prognosis.Case presentation: A 32-year-old male was referred to our department for suspected CS. Initial evaluation showed hypokalemia(2.4 mmol/l) and severe ACTH-dependent CS (Cortisol h8:678ng/ml; ACTH:249pg/ml; urinary free co...

Objectives: During the Covid-19 pandemic caused by the severe-acute-respiratory-syndrome-coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), vaccination has been widely adopted. Both SARS-CoV-2 infection and Covid-19 vaccines have been associated with several thyroid disorders. We studied the risk of Thyroid Eye Disease (TED) following Covid-19 vaccination.Methods: This self-controlled-case-series study, validated model in assessing vaccine safety, included 98 consecutive patie...