Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Adrenal myelolipoma is an extremely rare benign adrenal tumor. Adrenal myelolipoma is characterized by the presence within the adrenal gland of mature adipose tissue and active bone marrow elements. Owing to their non-functional nature most cases are incidental, either at autopsy or through computer tomography scan. Occasionally the lesions attain a large size to become clinically apparent. Seropositive rheumatoid arthritis is a disorder affecting approximately 1...

Introduction: Von Hippel-Lindau (VHL) syndrome is an inherited disorder characterized by the formation of tumors and cysts in diverse organ systems. Tumors may be malignant or benign and they tend to appear during young adulthood. Hemangioblastomas are characteristic of VHL syndrome.Aim: The aim was to describe the case of a patient with VHL syndrome presenting with musculoskeletal manifestations and multiple tumors.Case report: A ...

Introduction: In rheumatoid arthritis (RA) glucose metabolism may be affected either by the autoimmune inflammatory disease itself, or by the treatment used to manage the disease. Metabolic syndrome seems to be prevalent in RA patients.Aim: The aim was to study the prevalence of diabetes mellitus type 2 and metabolic factors related to the development of atherosclerosis within a cohort of RA patients cared for within a single Rheumatology Department....

Primary hyperparathyroidism is currently recognized with increasing frequency by routine calcium measurement in biochemical examinations. Primary hyperparathyroidism may be due to a parathyroid adenoma, parathyroid hyperplasia and, rarely, parathyroid carcinoma. Cinacalcet is used in the medical management of primary hyperparathyroidism.The aim was to assess the role of cinacalcet in the treatment of primary hyperparathyroidism.Pat...

Primary hyperparathyroidism is a rather frequent disorder characterized by high plasma PTH and calcium. Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent in all areas of the world. Vitamin D deficiency has been described in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism. When present, vitamin D deficiency may be associated with large size parathyroid adenomas and musculoskeletal pain.The aim was to describe two cases of primary hyperparathyroidism and vitamin D deficiency.</...

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is known to be associated with cardiovascular comorbidity. In particular, patients with RA are known to be at increased for the development of atherosclerosis. Treatment with biological agents in RA may affect lipid levels.Aim: The aim was to study the effect of rituximab treatment on lipid levels in RA patients.Methods: In a cohort of 20 patients with RA lipid levels were studied before, 6 and 12 months a...

Wegener’s granulomatosis is characterized by necrotizing granulomatous vasculitis. It occurs initially in a localized form, disseminates in various degrees and particularly involves the respiratory tract and kidneys. It is an ANCA-associated vasculitis, a systemic disease of autoimmune aetiology. Recently vitamin D deficiency has been associated with the development of autoimmunity. The aim was to present a case of Wegener’s granulomatosis in a patient with vitamin D...

Vitamin D deficiency has been implicated in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, such as diabetes mellitus type 1 and multiple sclerosis. Reduced vitamin D intake has been linked to increased susceptibility to the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and vitamin D deficiency has been found to be associated with disease activity in RA patients. The aim was to evaluate vitamin D status in RA patients and to assess the relationship between vitamin D levels and disease act...

Site-discordance in bone mineral density (BMD) assessment is common and affects patient categorization. Greater number of osteoporotic sites correlates with lower T score at each index site. The effect of BMD measurement at the contralateral femur on osteoporosis diagnosis has been previously evaluated.The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of BMD measurement at the contralateral femur on osteoporosis diagnosis.M...

Biological agents have been successfully introduced in the therapeutics of autoimmune diseases, in particular rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. However, their use has been found to increase the risk of serious infections and neoplasms. Infliximab, a neutralizing antibody to tumor necrosis factor-alpha, appears to be effective therapy in ankylosing spondylitis. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) plays an important role in host defense and tumor growth control. Therefore...