Endocrine Abstracts

A 73 years old man came to our observation for severe dysphagia and loss of weight (10 kg in 1 month). About 30 years before he had myocardial infarction and he underwent coronary artery bypass graft. One week before the first medical evaluation, patient suspended all drugs per os because he could not swallow pills and food. Thyroid function test revealed a severe hyperthyroidism (FT3 11.9 pg/ml; FT4 40 pg/ml; TSH <0.01 μU/ml). Anti-TSH ...

Cushing’s disease (CD) is the most common cause of endogenous Cushing’s syndrome in children and adolescents and represents a rare cause of short stature. A 14-year-old boy came to our attention for progressive weight gain and short stature. Birth length and weight were normal; clinical history was negative for use of glucocorticoids. At examination, height was 140 cm (3th centile), weight was 37.7 kg (10th centile). Tanner stage was: G2, PH 3, testis 3 ml. Hypothyro...

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...

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...

Background: SARS-CoV-2 infection is characterized by aspecific symptoms (e.g., fever, cough) and can be complicated by viral pneumonia and many other manifestations can occur. Endocrinological complications have also been described. Pheochromocytomas are rare tumors located in the adrenal medulla, causing symptoms due to catecholamines overproduction and abrupt release. Catecholamines release can be continuous or intermittent and there can be several triggers including stress,...

Introduction: in X-linked hypophosfatemic rickets (XLH) mutations of PHEX lead to elevated FGF-23 levels. Phosphate salts and calcitriol represented the only treatment option. Tertiary hyperparathyroidism (THPT) is a complication of XLH worsening the clinical features and constituting a contraindication to conventional treatment. Burosumab, a monoclonal antibody anti-FGF23, was recently approved in XLH. No data about Burosumab treatment in patients with XLH and THPT are availa...

Pituitary apoplexy (PA) is a rare syndrome that requires urgent assistance. It is due to ischemia or hemorrhage of pituitary tissue, almost always inside a pituitary tumor. PA may be the first manifestation of a neuroendocrine tumor or occur during follow up.Objective: To describe the characteristics of patients with PA treated in the Department of Endocrinology and Nutrition in the last 10 years and study the presence of possible risk factors for it.</p...

Pegvisomant (PEG) is effective in acromegaly control and exerts a positive impact on glucose metabolism. The current study aimed at investigating the effects of 10-years PEG treatment on disease control, pituitary adenoma size, and metabolic profile in patients with acromegaly resistant to somatostatin analogues (SRLs). Twenty-two patients (9 men,13 women, age 45.54 ± 12.83 years) treated with PEG for 10 years, in monotherapy or in combination with SRLs, were included in ...