Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Testicular regression syndrome (TRS) or vanishing testis syndrome is a rare condition defined as the absence of testicular tissue in a genetic and phenotypic male. Rudimentary accessory structures can be present; in that case, the removal of all remnants is recommended.Case report: Male patient, 39 years old, had initially been evaluated at the age of 8 for persistent bilateral cryptorchidism. The medical documents are lacking except for a ...

Introduction: VD deficiency is associated with the atrophy of muscle fibres (predominantly type II). This leads to decreased muscle force and general physical performance.Objective: To analyse the relationship between the serum concentration of 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25OHD), balance and physical performance in women with VD deficiency and the effect of VD supplementation or treatment with a VD analog.Materials and methods: We analys...

Background: Cushing’s disease is characterized by chronic ACTH hypersecretion, leading to hyperplasia of the adrenal zonae reticularis and fasciculata and, therefore, increased secretion of cortisol, androgens and DOC. Cushing’s disease is the most common form of Cushing’s syndrome, being responsible for approximately 80% of reported cases.Aim: To evaluate the curability rate of Cushing’s disease 1 year postoperatively.<p clas...

Introduction: There are high levels of anterior pituitary hormones in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), i.e. beyond the blood–brain barrier, in many patients with pituitary tumors.Aim: To assess the influence of CSF pituitary hormones on brain functions reflected by sleep architecture and sleep apnea.Method: Twenty-nine patients (17 women, 12 men) with pituitary adenomas (20 acromegaly, 5 nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas, 4 prol...

Introduction: Sox2 is a widely expressed marker of progenitor and stem cells in various organs, strongly expressed within Rathke’s pouch and the neural ectoderm. It exerts a critical role in the early stages of pituitary development but it is still expressed in the adult gland. Sox2 expression in pituitary adenomas and its possible correlation with clinicopathologic characteristics have not been investigated so far.Aim: To evaluate the immunohistoch...

Introduction: Paraneoplastic Cushing’s syndrome is attributed to ectopic ACTH release from a non-pituitary tumor. The lung is frequently the primary site of the underlying neoplasm but sometimes, in cases of advanced metastatic disease, determining the origin may be challenging.Case presentation: A70-year-old man was reffered to our centre for generalised bone pain, lethargy, and important weight loss in the last six months. Before admission, a cont...

Background: Association of differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) and cortisol-producing adrenal adenoma is not part of the classical MEN syndromes. We present a clinical case raising the question of a common etiology for these tumours.Case Presentation: A 58-year-old female presented in 2010 for the investigation of a 6 cm left adrenal tumour incidentally discovered by abdominal CT. Medical history included smoking, obesity, myocardial infarction, hyper...

Introduction: Severe hyperandrogenism is not only associated with cosmetic concerns but it also increases the risk of neoplastic (endometrial, breast cancer), cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic complications.Case report: A 68 years-old woman with a recent history of severe arterial hypertension, cardiogenic pulmonary edema, diabetes mellitus, severe respiratory failure, marked obesity was referred to our department due to the markedly androgenic p...

Background: Thyroid nodules were reported with high prevalence in acromegalic patients.Patients and methods: 63 acromegalic patients (16 males and 47 females), aged at diagnosis 43.6±12.7 years were retrospectively reviewed. Median duration of acromegaly was 8 years. 25 patients were residents in iodine deficient areas. GH, IGF1, TSH, FT4 were measured by chemiluminescence (Liaison). Thyroid ultrasound was performed. In suspected nodules,...

Non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFA) are associated with significant morbidity. Published data on the quality of life (QoL) of NFA patients are scarce and conflicting: some studies indicate a reduced QoL in patients with adequately treated NFAs while others demonstrate that subjective health-related QoL is not compromised to any major extent compared to the general population. Most published studies indicate specific subgroups of patients which are particularly affected, w...