Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Patients with pituitary disease demonstrated Quality of Life (QoL) impairment. From other chronic diseases it is known that partners of patients also report impairments in QoL. Furthermore, it is observed that well-being of patients is associated with the well-being of their partners. To date, no data are available on the well-being of partners of patients with pituitary disease. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to explore well-being of partners of patie...

Background: Adult GH deficiency (GHD) is diagnosed by provocative testing of GH secretion. To improve diagnostic accuracy of GHRH plus arginine (GARG) testing, we evaluated the influence of age, BMI, and sex. Furthermore, we aimed to established normative data for an automatic immunoassay specifically measuring 22kD human GH.Methods: Eighty-seven patients with hypothalamic-pituitary disease and 200 healthy controls were enrolled. Controls were prospectiv...

Introduction: Pituitary MRI T2-signal intensity may be associated with the response to somatostatin analogue therapy in acromegalic patients. Here, we explore how best to evaluate MRI T2-signal intensity of GH-secreting pituitary macroadenoma using data from the PRIMARYS study (NCT00690898; EudraCT2007-000155-34).Methods: PRIMARYS assessed tumour volume reduction (TVR) on MRI in treatment-naïve acromegalic patients with GH-secreting pituitary macroa...

Objective: Cushing’s disease (CD) may cause atrophy of different regions of the human brain, mostly affecting the hippocampus and the cerebellum. This study evaluates the use of 3-T MRI of newly diagnosed patients with CD to detect atrophic degeneration with voxel-based volumetry.Methods: Subjects with newly diagnosed, untreated CD were included and underwent 3-T MRI. Images were analyzed using a voxelwise statistical test to detect reduction of bra...

Background: Cabergoline (CAB) is the most effective dopamine agonist (DA) used for the treatment of macroprolactinoma. Few data on the dose of CAB necessary for achieving and maintaining normal prolactin (PRL) levels are available. We aimed to study these parameters in a large series of patients with macroprolactinomasMethods: We retrospectively analysed the clinical, biochemical and imaging features at diagnosis and the treatment response to CAB (dose n...

Ipilimumab, a monoclonal antibody against CTLA-4, is licenced for the treatment of metastatic melanoma (dose of 3 mg/kg for four cycles intravenously). It can cause immune-related adverse reactions (IRAEs) in multiple organs, with hypophysitis the most common endocrine IRAE. We carried out a retrospective analysis of 171 ipilimumab-treated patients in one centre for endocrinopathies.Results: Nine cases (six female, mean age 64 years, range 42–76) of...

Introduction: Transsphenoidal surgery is the gold standard in Cushing’s disease and recurrence is a major risk. We wondered which impact remission and recurrence might have on control rates of hypercortisolism and conducted a systematic analysis of our cohort of patients with Cushing’s syndrome after undergoing surgical therapy.Methods: We analysed the course of the disease in 74 patients with ACTH-dependent Cushing’s syndrome (63 Cushing&...

Introduction: Certain sensory system functions are affected somehow in acromegaly, however auditory complications have not been identified in detail yet. It is possible that widespread changes in acromegaly may also affect auditory system. We aimed to determine the changes involving auditory system in cases with acromegaly.Methods/design: Otological examination of 41 cases with acromegaly (active n=22, inactive n=19) were compared with ...

Introduction: Patients with acromegaly have an increased mortality, mainly due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Sleep apnea is related to hypertension, stroke and cardiovascular diseases and is reported to occur in 11–30% of acromegaly patients, according to retrospective studies based on diagnostic ICD-codes. However, in smaller prospective studies sleep apnea is found in about 70% of patients with active acromegaly and 40% after biochemical control. This diff...

Purpose: To investigate the kinetics of adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) following oral metyrapone administration and describe differences between ACTH-deficient and non ACTH-deficient subjects.Methods: Patients from a tertiary endocrine center at a University Hospital in Munich, Germany, were tested. Metyrapone (Metopirone, HRA Pharma, France) was administered with a dosage of 40 mg/kg bodyweight at 0800 h. Consecutive levels of ACTH were determined at 0, 60,...