Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Glucagon stimulation test is one of the recommended growth hormone provocation tests for diagnosing growth hormone deficiency in children. In adult patients, recent data showed that glucagon administration is able to stimulate the release of copeptin, the stable C-terminal glycopeptide of the AVP prohormone whose evaluation during hypertonic saline infusion represents the gold standard for the differential diagnosis of polyuria/polydipsia. However, similar data o...

Background: Routine clinical use of arginine-vasopressin (AVP) is limited by its small molecular size and pre-analytical errors. In contrast, copeptin – a peptide of 39 amino acids co-secreted with arginine-vasopressin (AVP) - is a stable protein and its measurement represents a reliable measure of AVP concentration. The aim of this study was to analyze diagnostic role of copeptin in diagnosis of diabetes insipidus (DI) in patients treated for hypothalamic-pituitary disea...

Introduction: Disorder of water and electrolyte balance may develop after transsphenoidal (TNS) surgery for pituitary adenomas. In particular, delayed hyponatremia (Na<135 mEq/l) due to SIADH is reported in 8–35% of patients and usually resolves with fluid-intake restriction within 6 days. The possible role of vasopressin-2 receptor antagonists in this clinical setting has not been elucidated.Case report: We report a case of a 57-years-old Cauca...

Cortisol and cortisone are interconverted by type 1 and type 2 11ßhydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11ßHSD) isoenzymes. The type 1 isoenzyme is a widely expressed reductase that converts cortisone to cortisol regulating glucocorticoid tissue exposure. Its activity is inhibited by GH and IGF-I, being increased in GH deficiency (GHD) and decreased in acromegaly. In our experience rhGH therapy unmasked a central hypoadrenal state in adults with organic GHD, likely by normal...

We previously demonstrated that acromegalic patients with normal IGF-I levels after surgery also met the current criteria for cure (i.e. postglucose GH nadir <1 μg/l) after long term monitoring. Since some Authors recently proposed to even lower the present GH nadir cut off value, the aim of this study was to confirm its adequacy to define long lasting disease remission. A group of 24 acromegalic patients (9 M&15 F, age 54.2±9.6 yrs) normal IGF-I levels and p...

Background: The treatment of choice in patients with Cushing Disease (CD) is pituitary surgery (PS). A successful PS is generally followed by adrenal insufficiency (AI). Although the remission rate after PS may reach 96.6% of cases, approximately 1/3 of cured patients experience the recurrence of the disease during lifetime. The aim of this study was to analyze the duration of AI in relation with the recurrence of CD.Materials and methods: We performed a...

Introduction: The effects of testosterone on coagulation have not yet been clarified. In particular, it is still controversial whether male hypogonadism, or testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), may slightly increase the risk of venous thromboembolism, in particular during the first months of therapy. This study aimed to assess the hemostatic balance in hypogonadal men before and after short-term TRT, compared to healthy controls.Methods: Thrombin gene...

Since the first description of inactivating PTH/PTHrP signaling disorders (iPPSDs, historically named pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP)) a remarkable clinical variability was observed, especially in clinical presentation, which seems to be age-dependent. The main clinical features, including PTH resistance, brachydactyly and short stature, develop during mid and late childhood, whilst minor clinical features such as a round face, rapid weight gain and subclinical hypothyroidism a...

Inactivating PTH/PTHrP signaling disorders (iPPSDs, historically named pseudohypoparathyroidism (PHP)) are a group of rare disorders associated with resistance to parathormone (PTH) and other hormones due to impaired hormonal signaling via G protein coupled receptors. Hypercalcitoninemia has been reported in these patients, however very few reports are available. The aim of this study was to further investigate the prevalence and characteristics of hypercalcitoninemia in both ...

Background: In a previous study, we retrospectively analysed a group of patients with high insulin growth factor 1 (IGF1) but normal growth hormone (GH) suppression, identifying among them a subgroup of “micromegalic” patients presenting with clinical features of acromegaly and high rate of comorbidities. We therefore expanded our cohort of patients, extended the follow-up time and collected preliminary data on treatment response aiming to better characterize this co...