Endocrine Abstracts

Quality of Life (QoL) is a very important issue in the management of a chronic disease like acromegaly. Recently the AcroQol questionnaire was developed to evaluate the QoL in different acromegalic populations. We decided to compare the scores of AcroQol and 2 other different questionnaires: one related to general well-being (SF-36) and the other to evaluate depression (BDI). We preformed a cross-sectional evaluation of a sample of 60 Portuguese acromegalics, 20 men and 40 wom...

Whilst surgery and external beam radiotherapy remain cornerstones of the management of acromegaly, recent guidelines have emphasised the importance of adjunctive medical therapy [e.g. with somatostatin receptor ligands (SRLs), dopamine agonists, growth hormone (GH) receptor antagonists] in attaining 'safe' GH and insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) levels, especially in patients who are not 'cured' following primary intervention. Several studies have established the efficacy ...

Advances in the treatment of acromegaly mean biochemical 'cure ' should be possible in the vast majority of patients. The challenge of the future will be designing treatment algorithms to optimise outcomes for individual patients, to ensure not only life expectancy but also QOL is normalised. QOL data is lacking in acromegaly, as is a disease-specific tool for measuring QOL. ACROQOL is a disease-specific QOL questionnaire compromising 22 questions (scored 1-5, high score good)...

Background: Compound heterozygous POLE1 mutations have previously been described as a cause of IMAGe syndrome. The severity of the adrenal insufficiency (AI) at initial presentation has been a subject of ongoing debate. Case report: At 22 weeks gestation the proband’s mother was referred to paediatric endocrinology for low oestriol on antenatal quadruple testing. The pregnancy was complicated by severe growth restriction leading to emergency caesare...

Introduction: Exposure to deficient/excess glucocorticoids can lead to long-term health problems in patients with adrenal insufficiency. An age-appropriate low dose hydrocortisone formulation is not available therefore manipulation a 10 mg tablet is required with potential for inaccurate dosing.Aims: To assess the variability in manipulation procedures recommended by healthcare professionals and undertaken by parents/carers. To quantify the dose-variabil...

Introduction: Long-acting (LA) somatostatin analog (SSA) therapy is a common first-line medical treatment for acromegaly and NETs. There are limited real-world data on patients’ injection experience with the latest LA SSA devices/formulations.Aims: To compare the injection experience of patients with acromegaly or NETs who were receiving treatment with LAN prefilled syringe vs OCT syringe.Methods: A 2021 e-survey of adults wit...

Background: Melatonin and cortisol production demonstrate circadian rhythms; disruption of these rhythms feature in endocrine and neurodegenerative disorders, such as Addison’s disease, Huntington’s disease (HD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Measuring serum and saliva concentrations at nadir is challenging using immunoassays. We have developed LC-MSMS methods for measuring serum and saliva melatonin, cortisol and cortisone to analyse 24hr profile samples obtained from sleep st...

Background: Residual morbidity in patients with Cushing’s syndrome (CS) in remission significantly affects Quality of Life (QoL). While sustained muscle weakness is a frequent complaint in these patients, the impact of muscle dysfunction on their psychophysical wellbeing is currently unknown. Patients & methods: We included 28 female patients [mean(±SD) age, 50±12 years; mean (±SD) BMI, 26.7±3.8] and 26 age- and BMI-matched healthy controls. Mean (...

Objective: Acromegaly (ACRO) is associated with abnormal bone remodeling and reduced volumetric bone mineral density (vBMD) at the lumbar spine and proximal femur. Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) modulate the activity of osteoblasts and osteoclasts, and are currently being investigated as potential biomarkers of osteoporosis. The aims of our study were: 1) To identify differentially expressed miRNAs in the serum of five patients with active ACRO vs. healthy controls, and 2) To ...

Introduction: Cushing’s syndrome (CS) has been related to higher psychopathology. Psychopathology can be related to poor memory performance, and low quality of life. The aim of this study is to establish the relationship between the three parameters and with subjective symptom perception in CS.Methods/design: Thirty six patients in remission of CS and 36 matched controls for age, sex and education years were included in the study. They completed SCL...