Endocrine Abstracts

Growth hormone deficiency (GHD) has become increasingly recognized as a cause of metabolic syndrome, characterized by altered body composition and adverse cardiovascular risk. The effects of other pituitary hormone deficiencies or their replacement therapies on the metabolic profile in this clinical setting are still largely unclear. In this study, we aimed to evaluating the effects of replacement therapies of central hypoadrenalism and hypothyroidism on body composition in a ...

Over the last years, there has been evidence that acromegaly may cause skeletal fragility with high risk of vertebral fractures. The diagnostic approach to this complication is still a matter of uncertainty, since DXA measurement of bone mineral density (BMD) does not provide reliable information on fracture risk in acromegaly. The cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) technique offers three-dimensional images for the radiographed area with the advantage to use non-dedicated eq...

The rate of diagnosis of pituitary adenomas in the elderly is increasing, as a consequence of the improved life expectancy. The management of elderly patients affected by pituitary adenomas are still a subject of debate in literature. In particular, data on the safety of endoscopic transnasal transsphenoidal surgery (TNS) are still controversial. The primary endpoint of the present study is to assess the surgical outcome of a cohort of patients who underwent TNS for non-functi...

Adult GHD patients may have reduced BMD with high risk of vertebral and non-vertebral fractures which is thought to be reverted by long-term rhGH replacement therapy. In this study we aimed at identifying the determinant factors of vertebral fractures, as assessed by a radiological morphometric approach, in a cohort of adult patients with untreated GHD. Forty-two patients (27 males, 15 females; median age: 48 years, range: 30–67) with untreated severe (as defined by a pea...

Adult GHD patients may have reduced BMD, which is thought to be reverted by long-term rhGH replacement therapy. We have recently reported high prevalence of vertebral osteoporotic deformities in untreated adult GHD patients. Gonadal status is the main determinant of bone loss in patients with primary form of osteoporosis.In this cross-sectional study, we investigated whether the prevalence and degree of spinal deformities in adults with treated or untrea...

Bone loss is a frequent complication of aromatase inhibitors (AIs) therapy in women with breast cancer. Bone-active drugs are effective in protecting the skeleton from detrimental actions of AIs. However, bone mineral density (BMD) was the primary end-point in most of published studies, whereas data on fractures were scant and mainly limited to denosumab. In this prospective study, we investigated the effects of denosumab, oral bisphosphonates and intravenous zoledronate on ri...

Background: There is growing awareness of skeletal impairment in individuals with Klinefelter syndrome (KS), involving both quantitative and qualitative alteration of the bone as well as an increased prevalence of vertebral fractures (VFs). Beyond hypogonadism, considerable evidence suggests that other factors may be responsible for the skeletal fragility observed in these patients. Abnormal body composition is a common finding in KS subjects, characterized by an unfavourable ...

Background: Osteoporosis is characterized by reduced bone mass and a compromised bone microstructure, leading to increased bone fragility and fracture risk. Currently, the gold standard for diagnosis is the bone mineral density (BMD) measurement by DXA. However, approximately half of fragility fractures occurs in the context of normal or slightly decreased BMD values.Protocol: In this cross-sectional study, we performed an artificial intelligence (AI)-ba...

Context: Available data on the natural history of pituitary incidentalomas (PI) are not strong enough to draw any evidence-based conclusion on timing and length of follow up of these masses, due to heterogeneity and low sample sizes.Objective: To describe the characteristics and the natural history of PI using data from a large cohort of patients investigated in two Italian Pituitary Centers.Patients and methods: Retrospective stud...

Thyroid hormones play a central role in the regulation of bone turnover and thyrotoxicosis is an established cause of secondary osteoporosis. Increased prevalence of reduced bone mineral density (BMD) has been reported even in patients with subclinical thyrotoxicosis such as those with differentiated thyroid carcinoma undergoing long-term L-thyroxine (L-T4) TSH-suppressive therapy. Morphometric vertebral fractures (VFs) are an early and clinically...