Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Ectopic Cushing’s syndrome is a rare disease, with a reported incidence of 0.1/million per year. This disorder accounts for approximately 12–17% of patients with ACTH-dependent Cushing’s syndrome. Small cell lung carcinoma is responsible for about 20% of cases, although ectopic ACTH hypersecretion occurs in only 0.5–2% of these tumours. Hypercortisolaemia is usually severe and of rapid onset. Optimal treatment is surgical excision of the tumou...

Introduction: Quality of life (QoL) is a subject of increasing interest in the health context. Applied to a chronic condition like diabetes, this issue could give an overall perspective of the health outcome.Objective: To evaluate the coping mechanisms, the treatment issues and its contribution to QoL of diabetes patients.Patients and methods: We gathered a sample of 94 diabetic subjects, 50% males, 55.3% type 1, with a mean age of...

In Portugal, no relevant epidemiologic data exists relative to the management and level of control of diabetic patients.TEDDI, a non-interventional cross-sectional study, allowed to characterize the usual management of type 1 (T1D) and type 2 (T2D) diabetes using a standardized questionnaire in 1775 patients (F: 47.5%; T2D: 80.8%) aged 18 years or older, visiting their diabetes specialist (n=180).Data was obtained for metabo...

Background: Diabetes is an important risk factor for major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). Although the increased risk for MACE is well known, the impact on the in-hospital outcomes remains incompletely understood. Our aim was to evaluate the interrelation between diabetes and MACE in a central hospital in the North of Portugal between 2009 and 2015.Methods: We evaluated retrospectively the hospitalizations due to MACE including stroke or transient...

Introduction: The anatomical and physiological changes induced by bariatric surgery (BS) can significantly impact the absorption and pharmacokinetics of orally administered medication. In particular, levothyroxine (LT4) dosage, given its dependence on patient’s weight and gastric pH for optimal absorption, is expected to change following BS. However, the literature is not unanimous and there is a void of longer-term studies. We aimed to compare LT4 dosage 4 years followin...

Background: Children who were born small for gestational age (SGA) and who do not have adequate catch-up growth until 4 years old have indication for treatment with recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH). The metabolic consequences of this treatment are relatively unknown. Objective: To evaluate the effect of rhGH treatment on insulin sensitivity and lipid profile.Materials and methods: A retrospective observational study of child...

Introduction: Primary acinic cell carcinoma (ACC) is an uncommon salivary gland (SG) tumor, making up 1–3% of all SG neoplasms, more frequent in women, at 40–60 year old. The cause is still unknown and the only well-established risk factor is ionizing radiation. ACC metastasize in 10–15% of the cases, 35% tends to recur and the rate of disease-associated death is about 16%. Surgical resection is the mainstay treatment, but radiation therapy may be used in some c...

Introduction: Pheochromocytomas and extra-adrenal paragangliomas are rare neuroendocrine tumors, with a peak incidence between the 3rd–5th decades of life and about 10% are malignant. Although they have the same radiographic and histologic characteristics of their benign counterpart, malignant pheochromocytomas are diagnosed by the presence of local invasion or metastatic tumor in the non-chromaffin tissues, and offer a poorer prognosis. Treatment is typically extirpative...

Background: Nivolumab is a monoclonal antibody specific for human PD-1 (programmed cell death protein-1), a checkpoint molecule highly expressed in several cancers. Nivolumab is an immunotherapeutic strategy for human cancer, but it can interfere with endocrine system.Case reports: We report four cases regarding nivolumab-associated endocrinopathies: (i) Male, 55-year-old, with previous normal cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) levels, treat...

Introduction: During childhood and puberty, growth hormone(GH) is essential for linear growth. Consequently, children with isolated GH deficiency(GHD) must receive replacement therapy. GH has also important metabolic actions. GHD in adults is associated with altered body composition. However, long-term consequences of GH treatment in adults is not sufficiently known.Objective: To evaluate GH treatment during pediatric age in patients with isolated GHD.</...