Endocrine Abstracts

Various haemostatic abnormalities have been associated with thyroid dysfunction, especially with hypothyroidism. The underlying mechanisms are not well established.The aim of the study was to evaluate the primary and secondary haemostasis in patients with severe hypothyroidism, to assess the role of thyroid hormone deficiency and to determine whether increased serum TSH level despite normal free thyroid hormone concentrations could influence the coagulat...

Childhood-onset craniopharyngiomas are rare intracranial embryonal malformations of the sellar region arising from remnants of Rathke’s pouch that require life-long control and management of the endocrine, ophthalmological and neuropsychological deficits caused by the tumors and their treatment. Craniopharyngiomas show low-grade histological malignancy and frequently affect hypothalamic/pituitary regions and the optic chiasm due to their location. Hypothalamic involvement...

Craniopharyngiomas are partly cystic embryogenic malformations of the sellar and parasellar region. With an overall incidence of 0.5–2.0 new cases/million population per year, ~30–50% of all cases represent childhood craniopharyngioma. Typical manifestations at diagnosis are some combination of headache, visual impairment, polyuria/polydypsia, growth retardation, and significant weight gain. Therapy of choice in patients with favorable tumor localization is complete ...

Objective: This open-label, single-arm study assessed the long-term safety and efficacy of injectable testosterone undecanoate (TU; Nebido) in men with hypogonadism.Methods: Men aged 18–75 years with hypogonadism (baseline serum total testosterone <10 nmol/l) were recruited. The study was performed under conditions designed to resemble routine clinical management: patients with underlying conditions such as diabetes mellitus and hypertension wer...

Owing to the difficulties in proper diagnosis of male hypogonadism, there is an ongoing debate on treatment needs of these patients. The comparison of commonly quoted thresholds of serum total testosterone concentrations for considering testosterone replacement therapy surprisingly reveals different thresholds in different European countries. The lower limit of ‘normal’ serum testosterone is 10 nmol/l in Germany, 7.5 nmol/l in France, 7.5–8 nmol/l in the UK, and...

Introduction: In Belgium, 21.4% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 are diabetic1. In this study, we describe the characteristics of diabetic patients hospitalized for COVID-19 in a Belgian tertiary care center.Patients and methods: The Clinics Ethics Committee approved the systematic registration of anonymized data from hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19 (N° CEHF 2020/22MAI/290), i.e. a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test on nasop...

Background: Craniopharyngiomas (CP) are rare malformational tumors. Clinical presentation and outcome of patients with congenital CP (cCP) are not clear and refer mainly to few case reports in the literature. The aim of this study was to analyze clinical presentation and outcome in patients with cCP.Clinical cases: Seven hundred and nine patients diagnosed with adamantinomatous CP were recruited 1999-2021 in HIT-ENDO, KRANIOPHARYNGEOM 2000 / 2007 / Regis...

Background: Quality of life (QoL) has become a critical component of therapeutic outcomes in the survivors of childhood-onset craniopharyngioma (CP). Visual deficiency adversely affects daily functioning and QoL in childhood CP. This cohort study aimed to report the vision-related QoL in CP patients. Methods: 120 patients with CP were included in this study and prospectively observed. The primary outcome measure was pediatric QoL (PEDQOL score) in patien...

Craniopharyngiomas are rare, embryonic, malformational tumors of the (supra-)sellar region. Due to tumor and/or treatment-related hypothalamic lesions, patients develop morbid obesity. As a major vascular risk factor, obesity leads to reduced 20-year overall survival and a 3- to 19-fold higher cardiovascular mortality after craniopharyngioma compared to the general population. This review studies craniopharyngioma-specific risk factors for vascular damages. Three databases (Pu...

Introduction: The osteoblast derived bone formation marker osteocalcin has been reported to decrease adipose tissue in mice. In elderly men, osteocalcin was reported to correlate inversely with fat mass.Aim: To examine the relationship between osteocalcin and regional fat depots.Method: The Odense Androgen Study is a population-based, cross-sectional study of 779 randomly selected men aged 20–29 years. Total, central, upper ex...