Endocrine Abstracts

Objectives: The use of thyroid hormones (TH) to treat obesity is not supported by evidence based on efficacy and safety, and this is reflected in recommendations of major international guidelines on hypothyroidism and obesity. We aimed to explore views about this practice among European thyroid specialists and their associations with respondent characteristics.Methods: Thyroid specialists from 28 countries were invited to participate in a questionnaire s...

Background: Levothyroxine (LT4) is considered the standard of care for hypothyroidism, however 5-10% of hypothyroid individuals complain of persistent symptoms despite achieving biochemical euthyroidism on LT4.Methods: 17,247 thyroid specialists from 28 countries were invited to participate in a survey. It enquired about respondents’ perceptions of the cause of hypothyroid-like persistent symptoms and how the prevalence of such complaints had change...

Background: Levothyroxine (LT4) monotherapy is the mainstay of treatment of hypothyroidism, but a sizeable minority of endocrinologists also use T3-containing treatments in some patients notwithstanding concern about their safety.Methods: 17,247 thyroidologists from 28 countries were invited to participate in a questionnaire survey. Geographic regions were defined according to the UN Statistics Division. Gross national income (GNI) information stems from...

Objectives: We present findings from the UK arm of the THESIS collaboration, a pan-European survey of endocrinologists’ opinions and current practice in the management of hypothyroid and euthyroid disorders.Methods: UK clinical members of the Society of Endocrinology and the British Thyroid Association were invited to participate in an online survey.Results: 272 of 1295 (21%) eligible members completed the survey. More than 50...

Parathyroid carcinoma (PC) is an extremely rare endocrine malignancy of the parathyroid glands, representing less than 1% of all parathyroid neoplasms. PC is characterized by an excessive secretion of parathyroid hormone (PTH) and severe hypercalcemia. In contrast to parathyroid adenoma, the prognosis for patients with PC is poor, with an overall survival rate of 78-85% and 49-70% respectively at 5 and 10 years after diagnosis, due to the commonly unmanageable hypercalcaemia, ...

Background: Pasireotide LAR is a multireceptor targeted somatostatin analogue that has been shown to obtain a better biochemical control of acromegaly. However, pasireotide LAR could induce hyperglycemia in acromegalic patients with higher baseline glucose values. The devices that can track interstitial glucose levels such as continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) could be a useful for studying the impact of SSA on patients’ glucose status.Aim: We aime...

Patients with prolactinomas may develop acromegaly during D2-agonists (DA), suggesting the existence of somatomammotroph adenomas with asynchronous secretion of GH and PRL. This may be due to the acquisition of somatotroph characteristics by lactotroph cells or to GH co-secretion by somatommammotroph cells unmasked after PRL inhibition by DA. The prevalence of silent acromegaly in prolactinomas during DA is 4.1%. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the somatotroph axis i...

Background: Pegvisomant (PEG) is a second line medical treatment for active acromegalic patients. PEG efficacy is between 61.5 and 92% and even if it is administered daily its long half-life suggests a possible use with a non-daily regime.Aim: We aim to compare acromegalic patients on daily PEG administration (DP) with patients on non-daily PEG administration (NDP).Methods: We studied 43 acromegalic patients under PEG treatment bet...

Introduction: Acromegalic cardiomyopathy is characterized by myocardial hypertrophy and interstitial myocardial fibrosis at biopsy. We studied left ventricular hypertrophy -LVH- through echocardiography (-ECHO- 2-D standard echocardiography and Doppler analysis) and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) analysis. Myocardial fibrosis was studied with late enhancement technique (LE) and extracellular volume technique (ECV) at CMR.Methods: 25 patients -pts- (13 ...

Background: No direct prospective studies comparing laser ablation (LA) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for debulking benign non-functioning thyroid nodules (BNTNs) exist. We aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of both techniques in patients with solid or predominantly solid BNTN.Methods: This six-month, single-use, randomized open label parallel trial compared the following primary endpoints between the RFA and LA groups six months after treatmen...