Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Overt hypothyroidisms warrants L-T4 treatment, but treatment in subclinical hypothyroidism (ScH), especially in mild form of ScH (TSH between 4,2-10mU/l and normal free thyroxine) is unknown.Objectives: To compare the presence of risk factors for atherosclerosis in patients with mild form of ScH to euthyroid subjects.Methods: Prospectively 67 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed ScH, and 30 healthy subjects were re...

Introduction: The reactivation of autoimmune disorders has been described in patients with hypercortisolism after normalization of cortisol secretion. This phenomenon is probably related to the loss of immunosuppressive effect of endogenous glucocorticoids. This is a report of two patients with Takayasu arteritis (TA) and Cushing’s disease (CD), a novel association never described in literature, in whom TA was exacerbated after normalization of cortisol secretion.<p c...

Diabetes is associated with oxidative stress. This study evaluated the rates of oxidative stress and mitochondrial impairment in type 2 diabetes patients. The study population consisted of 182 diabetic patients and 50 body-composition- and age-matched controls. We assessed anthropometric and metabolic parameters and mitochondrial function by evaluating mitochondrial oxygen (O2) consumption, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, glutathione (GSH) levels, GSH/GSSG ratio, mit...

Case report: 24-year. old man presented with change in facial appearance and joint pain. His symptoms began at puberty with the thickening and folding of the skin on the forehead and scalp and thickening of his fingers. These changes progressed over the next 5 years with marked seborrhoea, hyperhidrosis and linear palmar–plantar keratosis. The lower legs and forearms are cylindrically thickened, hands and feet increased in size, the terminal phalanges of the fingers show ...

The recent unavailability of pentagastrin (Pg) in several European Countries, prompted us to evaluate the potency and tolerability of the ‘high dose calcium test’ (Ca) in the stimulation of serum human calcitonin (hCt). We compared Pg- and Ca-stimulated hCt in 19 patients already treated for medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) in remission (n=19) or in persistence (n=13), in 18 patients with chronic thyroiditis and multinodular goiter, and in 15 healthy cont...

A 67-year-old lady presented with hypoglycaemic coma, treated with dextrose infusion. Previously she had a 3-month history of weight gain with increasingly frequent episodes of shaking and blurred vision, particularly at night, relieved by food.A 72-hour fast was undertaken. Within 2 h, she became confused. Serum glucose was 1.1 mmol/l with serum insulin 527 pmol/l (0–60 pmol/l), proinsulin 320 pmol/l (0–7 pmol/l) and C-peptide 2991 pmol/l (174...

We describe a case of pituitary apoplexy in a patient with a known non- functioning macroadenoma. A 57 year old female was incidentally found to have a 20 x 16 mm solid and cystic pituitary mass abutting the optic chiasm on MRI scanning. She had gonadotrophin deficiency on endocrine testing and normal visual fields. Although repeat perimetry 12 months later revealed a mild superior bi-temporal hemianopia, the patient elected not to have surgery.Several m...

We describe a 39-yr-old man with recurrent sporadic primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). In 1987, at the age of 21 yr, a severe form of PHPT was diagnosed [serum calcium 17.3 mg/dl; C-PTH 3.17 ng/ml (<0.88 ng/ml), cortical thinning and erosion] and a right parathyroid adenoma was removed. Three years later recurrence of PHPT was diagnosed but no treatment was initially advised. In 1993 the patient underwent cervical exploration and a right parathyroid adenoma was excised. S...

Impaired estrogen (E2) action is important for cardiovascular disease (CAD) in both men and women. Associations of CAD with estrogen receptor polymorphisms, which may influence sensitivity to E2 have been reported for men but have not been confirmed for women. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association of estrogen receptor common polymorphisms with the severity of coronary disease in women undergoing coronary angiography.Estrogen rec...

Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a malignant tumour deriving from parafollicular C cells, with a highly chemoresistant phenotype. Failure of medical therapy has been ascribed, at least in part, to multi drug resistance (MDR1) gene over-expression. MDR1 encodes for a transmembrane glycoprotein, P-gp, which hampers intracellular accumulation of cytotoxic drugs. It has been demonstrated that P-gp expression and function depend on cyclo-oxygenase 2 (COX-2) expression, which is...