Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Paraganglioma is a tumour derived from extra-adrenal chromaffin cells of the sympathetic paravertebral ganglia of the thorax, abdomen and pelvis. About 36 % to 60 % of the paragangliomas are functional secreting norepinephrine and normetanephrine, which cause hypertension. Non-functional paragangliomas can produce Chromogranin A. Paragangliomas also arise from the parasympathetic ganglia located along the glossopharyngeal and vagal nerves in the neck and at the b...

Background: Dysmenorrhea is defined as pain during menstruation and might be caused by increased endometrial prostaglandin production. It is a highly prevalent medical condition (45–95% of women internationally) which can be part of a woman’s reproductive life. Throughout the literature, dysmenorrhea has been shown to affect daily functioning such as socialization, work and academic performance during menstruation and quality of life. However, dysmenorrhea and its im...

Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the clinical and hormonal effectiveness of different modes of suppressive cabergoline (CAB) therapy during 12 months in patients with prolactinoma.Subjects and methods: It was examined and underwent a 12 month course of treatment by selective dopamine agonist CAB in 61 patients with prolactinoma (PROL) (9 male/ 52 female) aged 16–66 years. There were 40 women with microPROL, 12 with macro&giant PROL; ...

Introduction: Patients diagnosed with DTC have excellent prognosis. A small percentage of patients with disease persistence do not respond to treatment with RAI (RAI-refractory DTC) and have low median survival (3.5 years). We investigated the prognostic factors and the disease course in patients with RAI-refractory DTC.Methods: Of all DTC patients (n=1160) followed-up in our department in recent years, 800 received RAI treatment and were classified in 2...

The aim of the study: To investigate the anti-proliferative effect of cabergoline (CAB) which was used in different regimes of suppressive therapy during 12 months in patients with prolactinoma (PROL).Subjects and methods: It was examined and underwent a 12 month course of treatment by selective dopamine agonist CAB 61 patients with PROL: microadenoma 42, macro&giant PROL - 19. (52 women/9 men) aged 16–66 years. The total duration of the disease...

Objective: Simultaneous occurrence of MTC and DTC is frequently found. It is unclear whether there is a common pathogenic mechanism. Aim of our study was to characterize clinical features of MTC when coexisting with DTC.Methods: Of 273 MTC patients followed-up in our department 39 (14.3%) had MTC simultaneously with DTC. They were divided in 4 subgroups according to size. Clinical histopathological data were recorded.Results: The p...

Pituitary and adrenal gland assessment, is one of the most important aspects of the management of a pituitary and adrenal adenoma.Clinical practice varies widely with regard to assessment of pituitary and adrenal status pre- and post-operative. Pre-operative testing includes dynamic testing to assess function which is not practical in the immediate post-operative period. Instead a single morning serum total hormones are measured while a more definitive a...

Introduction: Mutations in the ret gene are responsible for the transmission of inherited medullary thyroid cancer (MTC). In recent years a high prevalence of the ‘rare’ exon 8 mutation (G533C) has been found in patients with inherited MTC in Greece. The aim of this study was to record with more detail the place of origin of these families in the country.Design: We analysed the details of 44 patients belonging to 22 families who were c...

Objectives: Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) has varying clinical course with familial cases (fMTC) diagnosed earlier than sporadic ones (sMTC). We examined the presentation of these entities in our centre.Methods: 223 MTC patients (familial: 42.6%, males: 36.8%) were followed for 0.9–30 years (mean 6.23±5.9, median 4.0 years). 44 (19.7%) fMTC patients were operated after genetic screening.Results: Median age at diagnosi...

Introduction: In recent years, micro papillary thyroid carcinomas (mPTCs; ≤1.0 cm) are increasingly diagnosed. Although clinical course is usually favourable, disease persistence may occur and multiple treatments needed. We examined factors that could be predictors of clinical behaviour and disease persistence.Patients and methods: 478 mPTC patients (78.9% females) followed-up for 0.6–10 years were classified according to tumour size in group ...