Endocrine Abstracts

The coexistence of pheochromocytoma and hyperreninemia secondary to renal artery stenosis, which both represent important causes of juvenile hypertension, has been reported in Literature, while association between pheochromocytoma and reninoma has never been described.We evaluated a 24-year-old boy, which came to our attention for severe hypertension, unresponsive to anti-hypertensive polytherapy. In 1996, because of elevated calcitonin levels (180 pg/ml...

Hirsutism affects 5–10% of women of reproductive age and may be the initial sign of an androgen disorder. We describe two cases of occult Sertoli-Leydig ovarian cell tumor suspected only on the basis of clinical and laboratory features.The first patient, a 42 year-old woman came to our attention for hirsutism. Several blood samples showed a very high testosterone concentration (~4 ng/ml), while non-ovarian causes of hyperandrogenism were excluded. A...

Clinical trials have demonstrated that pegvisomant therapy is highly efficacious, normalizing serum IGF-I levels in the majority of patients with acromegaly. Multiple factors could influence the dose of pegvisomant required to normalize IGF-I, that ranging from 10 to 40 mg/day. However, the determinants of this variability are unknown and, to date, there is no specific recommendation to adjust the dose to the type of patient. Lack of exon 3 of the Growth Hormone receptor (d3-G...

Myelolipomas are rare benign tumours resulting from myeloid and adipose mature cells proliferation, both elements have a clonal origin from a common precursor. Myelolipomas predominantly involve the adrenal gland but may develop in extra-adrenal sites. They are hormonally inactive but may coexist with active diseases such as adrenogenital syndrome. They are often asymptomatic but rarely they cause symptoms due to their size or spontaneous retroperitoneal haemorrhage. The myelo...

Oxidative stress is associated with chronic alcoholic abuse; it is also a mechanism involved in male infertility. To further investigate the relationships between these two conditions, we studied 6 patients with diagnosis of Alcohol Dependence (DSM-IV) during post-detoxification phase, who consulted our centre for infertility. We evaluated seminal parameters, hormone pattern, Total Antioxidant Capacity (TAC) and the lipophilic antioxidant Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), both in blood an...

Previously, we demonstrated an inverse correlation between CoenzymeQ10 (CoQ10) and thyroid hormones, suggesting its usefulness as index of thyroid hormone tissue effect. A low-T3 syndrome, observed in chronic diseases, is considered an adaptive mechanism and its treatment is still debated. To evaluate the metabolic status of these patients and antioxidant vs energetic role of CoQ10, we studied 32 patients, with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), comparing respirator...

Hyperthyroidism associated to hyperthyrotropinemia is a rare condition which can be due to two different causes: resistance to thyroid hormones and TSH secreting adenoma. The differential diagnosis is not easy.We have observed 8 patients with hyperthyroidism associated to inappropriately elevated TSH. All patients had similar basal levels of thyroid hormones and 7 out of 8 had a multinodular goiter.Four out of 8 patients showed lac...

Aim: We compared effectiveness of partial withdrawal of levothyroxine (L-T4) to the use of recombinant human TSH (rhTSH) in preparation for Tg testing. We also evaluated clinical aspects and quality-of-life (QOL) during both regimens.Materials and methods: Ten consecutive patients, previously treated with total thyroidectomy and radioiodine ablation for DTC, underwent rhTSH protocol and, after 15 days, reduced their L-T4 dose by 50% for 5 weeks. At the f...

Endometriosis is a chronic gynecological inflammatory disease characterized by the presence of functional endometrial glands and stroma outside of the uterine cavity. It affects 7–10% of women of reproductive age, up to 50% of women with infertility and up to 60% of women with dysmenorrhea. The aim of this pre-clinical study was evaluate the efficacy of low-dose SKA Progesterone (GUNA) and low-dose SKA IL-10 (GUNA) in the modulation of the inflammatory response in endomet...

Introduction: A significant number of GH-secreting pituitary adenomas show an aggressive behavior, therefore, when uncontrolled acromegaly persists, a pharmaceutical combination may improve biochemical control, with reduction of disease morbidity and mortality. We aimed to describe the clinical features of four patients successfully treated with a pharmacological combination of pasireotide LAR, pegvisomant and cabergoline.Case reports: Acromegaly was dia...