Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Pasireotide is a potent somatostatin analogue (SSA) and used in therapy-refractory acromegaly, commonly after failure of treatment with first-generation SSA. However, it may induce severe hyperglycemia, which usually occurs rapidly after initiation of therapy and in general gradually improves over time. We here present two cases of young male patients who developed severe pasireotide-induced hyperglycemia after several years of treatment.Ca...

Introduction: Acromegaly is characterized by chronic growth hormone (GH) excess and leads to numerous changes in bodily functions and comorbidity. We compared potassium homeostasis in patients with acromegaly to hypertensive controls.Methods: We prospectively assessed serum potassium, urinary potassium excretion, aldosterone and renin, acid-base balance as well as glomerular filtration rate according to the CKD-EPI formula in 71 patients with acromegaly ...

Background: Adult GH deficiency (GHD) is diagnosed by provocative testing of GH secretion. To improve diagnostic accuracy of GHRH plus arginine (GARG) testing, we evaluated the influence of age, BMI, and sex. Furthermore, we aimed to established normative data for an automatic immunoassay specifically measuring 22kD human GH.Methods: Eighty-seven patients with hypothalamic-pituitary disease and 200 healthy controls were enrolled. Controls were prospectiv...

Introduction: Transsphenoidal surgery is the gold standard in Cushing’s disease and recurrence is a major risk. We wondered which impact remission and recurrence might have on control rates of hypercortisolism and conducted a systematic analysis of our cohort of patients with Cushing’s syndrome after undergoing surgical therapy.Methods: We analysed the course of the disease in 74 patients with ACTH-dependent Cushing’s syndrome (63 Cushing&...

Introduction: Somatostatin analogues (SSA) present the treatment of choice in patients with previously poorly controlled acromegaly.Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of acromegalic patients enrolled in the Network of Excellence for Neuroendocrine Tumors Munich and treated with the SSA lanreotide.Results: Fifty-six acromegalic patients (25 females; mean age 59 years; 33 with macroadenoma) switched to lanreotide from pre...

Introduction: Acromegaly is a chronic disease that affects morphology and organ functions. These changes lead to clinically relevant comorbidities. Untreated acromegaly reduces life expectancy by 10 years, mostly due to cardiovascular events, malignancies and respiratory disorders. We present the results of a series of 109 acromegalic patients at a single institution.Methods: Lung function tests were performed under standardized conditions in patients wi...

Introduction: Craniopharyngioma is an insidious disease that leads to profound comorbidities. Outcomes of the disease have been studied in depth, but there is little data comparing pituitary comorbidities of cases diagnosed in recent years opposed to before. We hypothesized that advances in endocrinologic diagnostics and neurosurgery have led to a lower degree of comorbidities.Methods: We investigated 54 patients with adult-onset craniopharyngioma (28 ma...

Introduction: Acromegaly is an endocrinopathy that affects many different organ systems and leads to multiple comorbidities. Data on morphologic pathology of kidneys in acromegaly is scarce.Methods: We investigated 19 acromegalic patients (11 male, mean age 57.8±12.1 years) presenting in our outpatient clinic. We evaluated each patient’s kidneys by ultrasound, measuring organ dimensions and volume as well as noting any pathologic findings.<...

Introduction: Acromegaly is a slowly progressing systemic disease that leads to numerous changes in metabolism and organ function. A large cross-sectional study showed signs of subclinical airway obstruction in female patients. We performed a longitudinal study of lung function testing to compare parameters of airway obstruction in male and female patients with acromegaly over time.Methods: 40 patients with acromegaly (24 male, 16 female) underwent repea...

Introduction: There is a long delay between the onset of symptoms and correct diagnosis of acromegaly. This study aimed to explore the potential of hand size as a screening tool of acromegaly. Here we present first results of a new screening project.Method: We measured scan-copies of acromegalics (n=27, 9 women, age 18–84 years) and controls (n=111, 71 women, age 19–81 years) and analyzed surface areas of palm and thenar and m...