Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Pasireotide is a multireceptor-targeted somatostatin analogue effective in the treatment of patients with Cushing’s disease (CD) but associated with an increased risk of hyperglycaemia. We prospectively investigate the role of an acute pasireotide suppression test (PST) in predicting long-term response in CD.Methods: Eleven patients with CD (seven females, four males; mean age 45±17.3 years) received at 0900 h a single s.c. inject...

Context: Late-night salivary cortisol (LNSC) measurement has been promoted as an ideal screening test for the diagnosis of Cushing’s syndrome (CS). However, its performance using commercially available assays has not been widely evaluated and limited data are available on its use in population with chronic medical conditions.Aim: To compare the diagnostic performance of LNSC (routine use) in patients with CS and in a patients’s group with diffe...

Background: COVID-19 pandemic is a novel, potentially adverse condition for patients with adrenal insufficiency (AI), whose life expectancy and quality of life (QoL) are impaired due to their risk of infections and stress-triggered acute events. Therapeutic usefulness of glucocorticoids in COVID-19 is debated, but infected AI patients require prompt replacement tailoring.Objectives: In a cohort of AI patients, to assess:– the...

Background: The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is a public health emergency and raises the issue of psychological and physical resilience in more vulnerable patients. We investigated the emotional impact of the SARS-CoV-2 spread among cancer patients, followed at our Institution in Italy, after the restrictive measures imposed by the government and the disruption of planned clinical activities.Methods: From March 18th to April 1st, 2020, we...

Introduction: Pasireotide is a promising treatment option for patients with Cushing’s disease (CD). The measurement of salivary cortisol is useful for diagnosing hypercortisolism and monitoring patients with CD following pituitary surgery. It may also be a better index of cortisol secretion than serum cortisol or urinary free cortisol (UFC). We investigated the value of salivary cortisol in monitoring short-term efficacy of pasireotide in patients with CD.<p class="ab...

The management of Cushing’s disease (CD) can be problematic, particularly when the disease persists following pituitary surgery. Here we report the case of a 55-year old woman with CD that persisted after repeat transsphenoidal surgery. The patient had an overt phenotype with facial rubeosis, central obesity with supraclavicular fat accumulation, cervical fat pad and proximal muscle weakness. She had received anti-hypertensive drugs and insulin for diabetes mellitus. Horm...

Introduction: Current guidelines for the management of asymptomatic primary hyperparathyroidism (A-pHPT) recommend that 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels should be assessed in all patients and vitamin D deficiency (VDD) should be cautiously corrected. It is unknown whether VDD affects the probability to meet surgical criteria currently proposed for A-pHPT. Aim of study was to evaluate whether VDD recognition affects the probability to meet surgical criteria in A-pHPT patients.<p ...

Introduction: The management of craniopharyngioma (CR) remains a challenge. The introduction of endoscopic technique in the surgical approach to the sellar/suprasellar region would have profound implications for treatment. The aim of the study was to analyze results, advantages and limits of endoscopic endonasal approach (EEA).Design/methods: From 1998 to 2012, 95 patients underwent surgery for CR. Trancranial approach was chosen for 33 patients (35%) on...

Objective: Recent papers reported that basal calcitonin (CT) level may be related to thyroid volume. This study aims to evaluate if this finding is confirmed in patients undergoing ultrasonography-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) for thyroid nodules.Design: Retrospective university-center study.Methods: From February 2010 to September 2012, 561 patients underwent ultrasonography-guided FNAC and a complete evaluation in...

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is often diagnosed at late stage or metastatic condition. Surgical resection is considered treatment of choice and other treatment options include chemoembolization, radiofrequency ablation and photodynamic therapy. We evaluated the expression levels of the 5 somatostatin receptors (SSTRs) in 23 biopsies of HCC patients and also mTOR, p70S6K and 4eBP1 in HuH-7 and HepG2 and investigated the in vitro effect of somatostatin analogs (SA) and ...