Endocrine Abstracts

Recently, a position statement of a working group for renaming diabetes insipidus (DI) appeared in several renowned endocrine journals aiming to promote a change in the established name of DI. According to this position statement, the major arguments for renaming DI are: (a) it does not optimally reflect the underlying pathophysiology (b) it is often confused with diabetes mellitus (DM) leading to treatment errors and consequent adverse outcomes for patients. Although the abov...

Non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPA) are the second most common variant of pituitary tumors. They are presented by compression symptoms, hypopituitarism and in rec as incidental findings during brain imaging. When symptomatic, primary therapy for NFPAs is surgery most commonly by the trans-sphenoidal (TSS) approach. Medical therapy is not generally recommended in this setting, particularly when immediate decompression of the optic chiasm is needed. Despite the debulking e...

During the past several years the wide application of sensitive brain imaging techniques (CT, MRI) has led to an increasing recognition of asymptomatic lesions in the pituitary. Although their etiology covers a wide range of pathologies, most incidentally discovered pituitary lesions are benign adenomas, ranging in size from micro- (<10 mm) to macro- (>10 mm) adenomas. Micro-incidentalomas are very common, with a reported incidence in normal individuals of 4–20%. ...

Incidentally detected adrenal masses are increasingly encountered in clinical practice due to better availability and accessibility of imaging procedures and are considered to be amongst the most common tumors in humans, with an estimated prevalence ranging from 0.4 to 4.4%. Malignancy is rare amongst patients with adrenal incidentalomas presenting in an endocrine clinic. The imaging phenotype is very helpful in distinguishing benign adenomas from malignant lesions. From the e...

Hypocorticotropism refers to ACTH insufficiency, which may be partial or complete, isolated or combined, genetic or acquired, pituitary or hypothalamic in origin. As a result it leads to secondary adrenal failure. Adrenal secretion of cortisol and of adrenal androgens is mainly affected; aldosterone secretion is normal. Symptoms of hypocorticotropism include progressive malaise and weight loss. Because aldosterone secretion is intact salt wasting, volume contraction and hypoka...

Background: Individuals with adrenal insufficiency (AI) receive life-long glucocorticoid (GC) replacement which often exceeds physiological daily GC production, with negative effects on cardiometabolic and bone health parameters.Objective: Assessment of cardiometabolic and bone health markers in postmenopausal females with AI in relation to the GC dose.Methods: We retrospectively collected 114 postmenopausal women with AI (37 with ...

Background: Individuals with adrenal insufficiency (AI) receive life-long glucocorticoid (GC) replacement therapy (CGRT), which often exceeds normal daily physiological GC production, leading to detrimental effects on cardiometabolic parameters and bone health.Objective: Assessment of glucose, lipid and bone metabolism in AI postmenopausal patients in relation to the cause of AI and the CGRT dose.Methods: 114 AI postmenopausal wome...

Background/aim: Primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) is a relatively common endocrine disorder, which is often asymptomatic and thus diagnosed during routine biochemical testing. Emerging scientific data supports the theory that non-syndromic pHPT patients may be at increased risk for thyroid autoimmunity, metabolic disorders and malignancy.Materials and methods: A cohort of 227 pHPT (61 male and 166 female) and 244 non-pHPT (75 male and 169 female) patien...

Background and Aims: The COVID-19 pandemic severely affected the glycemic regulation of adult patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D). The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of this pandemic on glycemic control in T1D patients with continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) systems.Methods: A cohort of adult T1D patients with CSII was retrospectively evaluated. Data regarding number visits to our diabetes clinics, total daily insulin dose (TDI...

It is well known that successful treatment of Cushing’s syndrome (CS) leads to transient adrenal insufficiency due to suppression of the hypothalamo–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis by the long-standing cortisol excess. Reports on HPA recovery in recent years including CS patients with less florid clinical features are scarce. Herein we report our findings in a series of patients with various forms of CS successfully treated in our department over the last 15 years....