Endocrine Abstracts

Hypocalcemia has been recently identified as a major biochemical distinctive feature of COVID-19, predicting poor clinical outcomes. Besides the calcium-dependent viral mechanisms of action and the enhanced cellular permeability to calcium ions, we previously hypothesized that hypovitaminosis-D could be a predisposing factor to hypocalcemia. Actually, high prevalence of vitamin D (VD) deficiency in COVID-19 patients (pts) was reported by several studies, but, to date, only few...

Objective: Currently, data about the molecular profile of multifocal papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) are still controversial. The aim of this study was to fully characterize by NGS the molecular profile of different histological variants in patients affected by multifocal PTCs.Methods: for this purpose, 12 multifocal PTC patients have been studied based to the following inclusion criteria: 1) a minimum of two tumors foci per patient with at least two diff...

Background: The use of prophylactic central neck dissection, especially for low-risk differentiated thyroid cancer, is still very variable from center to center. Obviously, central dissection does allow more complete staging of cancer, including identification of metastases not detectable on preoperative ultrasound. However, it could lead to higher risk of hypoparathyroidism. Above all, it is not entirely clear whether the identification of metastases of the central compartmen...

Background and Objective: In thyroid cancer (TC) central compartment (CC) neck dissection (CCND) should accompany thyroidectomy in case of clinical and/or cytological suspicion of lymph node (LN) metastases. Cervical ultrasound has been indicated as the first-line examination in the pre-operative staging of TC, although its diagnostic performance in evaluating CC LN is controversial. Proving that cervical ultrasound can accurately identify CC metastases would allow to use this...

The risk of thyroid dysfunction induced by Interferon (IFN)-β1b therapy, in particular in patients having preexisting thyroid autoimmune disorders (AITD), is well known. We report a case of a 60-year-old female, with a 15-year history of euthyroid autoimmune thyroiditis and a 3-year history of Multiple Sclerosis (MS), in care for the evaluation of hyperthyroidism. The patient started a specific immunomodulant IFN-β1a therapy (30 μg/week) twenty months before the...

Background: Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is the most frequent cause of diabetes of the exocrine pancreas (DEP). Although the specific alterations of DEP are not completely understood, individuals with DEP are considered affected by pancreatic endocrine insufficiency and treated with insulin. To investigate the functional alterations of DEP, we evaluated differences in glucose metabolism in patients with and without CP, classified according to their glucose tolerance (NGT, IGT, DM...

ObjectiveVERIFY demonstrated the long-term benefits of an early combination (EC) treatment strategy compared with initial metformin monotherapy (MET) followed by sequential intensification in a multiethnic population with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The results for European patients enrolled in VERIFY are presented.MethodsAdult patients with T2DM (≤2 years) and mild hyperglycaemia (...

Pasireotide (SOM230) is a multireceptor ligand somatostatin analogue with high binding affinity to somatostatin receptor subtype 5, which is predominantly expressed in ACTH-secreting pituitary adenomas. It is indicated for the treatment of adult patients with Cushing’s disease (CD) for whom pituitary surgery is not an option or has not been curative. Our study evaluated the effects of pasireotide, administered for 12 months at a dose of 600–900 μg/daily, in five...

Regulators are concerned about the potential for environmental chemicals such as agrochemicals and their metabolites to perturb hormone systems. This has led to recommendations for the testing of potential endocrine disrupting chemicals1. The Steroidogenesis H295R assay is an in vitro cell model used to investigate compound effects on steroid hormone biosynthesis, specifically 17β-estradiol (E2) and testosterone (T). The human H295R adreno-carcinoma ce...

Background: Bone metastases have been described in up to 15% of patients with NETs and are associated with a worse clinical outcome. Here we investigate the role of CTCs as a marker of bone metastases in a large cohort of patients with gastroenteropancreatic NETs.Methods: To be eligible for the study, patients were required to be ≥ 18 years old, have histologically confirmed midgut or pancreatic NET (pNET) and metastatic disease measurable by RECIS...