Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Cushing syndrome (CS) result from inappropriate exposure to increased non regulated glucocorticoid levels. It remains challenging regarding diagnosis and management. Pituitary ACTH-secreting adenomas account for most of the cases if exogenous and paraneoplasic forms are excluded.Case report: A 45-year-old women was referred to the endocrine outpatient department because of obesity, muscular weakness, high blood pressure (HBP), diabetes ...

Introduction: Several studies suggest a higher risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) and colon polyps (CP) in acromegaly, however there is still controversy regarding associated factors (AF) able to contribute for its development. Data on the prevalence of CRC and CP in Portuguese patients with acromegaly are limited.Objectives: To assess the prevalence of CRC and CP in acromegalic patients and compare to the normal Portuguese population. To determine the rele...

Introduction: Acromegaly is a rare disease resulting from pathological oversecretion of growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). The clinical spectrum includes cardiovascular and respiratory diseases but also increased risk of benign and malignant neoplasms.Objectives: Evaluate the prevalence of cancer and seek for associated factors in acromegaly.Methods: Retrospective study of 94 patients with acromegaly trea...

Background: Prolactinomas are the most common hormone-secreting pituitary tumors and are a common cause of anovulation and infertility. Giant prolactinomas (0.5–4.4% of all pituitary tumors) are rare tumors characterized by their large size (>4 cm), compressive symptoms and extremely high prolactin secretion (>1000 ng/ml). Men are most commonly affected, with a reported male to female ratio of 9:1.Case report: We present the rare case of 53-...

Introduction: Sheehan syndrome (SS) is caused by postpartum necrosis of the pituitary gland, associated with significant haemorrhage during or after delivery. It is rare in developed countries, but still frequent in underdeveloped ones. We present a rare presentation of this syndrome.Clinical case: A 48 years old black woman presented at the emergency department for long term fatigue and dyspnea that worsened a few days before. Her physical examination r...

Introduction: Postpartum infarction of the anterior pituitary, known as Sheehan’s syndrome, is a rare cause of hypopituitarism. In many cases, the hormones deficiency is sequential which implies late diagnoses.Case Report 1: A 51-year-old woman was observed because her mother had medullary thyroid carcinoma. She had no evidence of endocrine neoplasia. Nevertheless, she was experiencing fatigue, hair loss and dry skin for several months. Her history ...

Cushing’s Syndrome (CS) is an uncommon disease worldwide, being characterized by an increased production of glucocorticoids, and if left untreated can lead to serious consequences and women with CS rarely get pregnant. The aim of our work is to make a systematic review of the cases of pregnancy in patients with previously diagnosed CS, being performed an extensive research of the Medline and Web of Knowledge databases, and add three new cases observed in our institution. ...

The Sodium Iodide Symporter (NIS) is responsible for active transport of iodide into thyroid cells. Its expression in thyroid tumors allows the use of radioactive iodine (131I) as co-adjuvant therapeutic tool to eliminate remaining tumor cells and metastases after total thyroidectomy. Nevertheless, certain subsets of patients with advanced forms of thyroid cancer lose the ability to respond to radioiodine therapy, which drastically reduces their survival rates. Recent studies ...

Background: High-grade neuroendocrine tumours (HGNETs) of the oesophagus are extremely rare and few cases have been reported worldwide. Here we aim to understand clinical profile, treatment strategy and outcomes for oesophageal HGNETs.Methods: We report a single-centre retrospective review of 21 patients with oesophageal HGNETs treated between 2011–2016. Data on incidence, tumour location, stage at presentation, histopathology, treatment protocol an...

Delayed wound healing (WH), characterized by ischemia, is exacerbated by glucocorticoid (GC) excess. Local GC availability is regulated by the enzyme 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1) which generates the GC cortisol from inactive cortisone. We previously reported improved WH in 11β-HSD1-null mice but regulation of 11β-HSD1 by hypoxia in human skin remains unknown. Primary human dermal fibroblasts (HDF, biological n=3), were treated...