Prevalence of acromegaly in patients with symptoms of sleep apnea.

Acromegaly is a rare disease with nonspecific symptoms with acral enlargement being almost universally present at diagnosis. The estimated prevalence is 40-125 cases/million but targeted universal screening studies have found a higher prevalence (about 10 fold). The aim of the ACROSAHS study was to investigate the prevalence of acromegaly and acromegaly comorbidities in patients with sleep apnea symptoms and acral enlargement.

Megestrol acetate-induced adrenal insufficiency.

Megestrol acetate is a synthetic progestin that has been used since the 1970s for the treatment of advanced cancer and subsequently to treat anorexia, cachexia and weight loss in AIDS patients. It has been shown that high doses or prolonged treatment with this drug may cause Cushing's syndrome, new-onset diabetes and suppression of plasma ACTH and cortisol levels. Megestrol acetate may cause suppression of the pituitary-adrenal axis due to the affinity of this compound for the glucocorticoid receptor.

Growth hormone distribution kinetics are markedly reduced in adults with growth hormone deficiency.

Objective: Growth hormone (GH) circulating levels are highly dependent not only on GH secretion rate from the pituitary, but also on the hormone distribution in the compartments of the body and elimination phenomena. In adult GH-deficient patients these factors become critical nowadays, especially when recombinant human GH (rhGH) is available for replacement therapy. In the present study, we assess the influence of both distribution and elimination phenomena on GH pharmacokinetics in adult GH-deficient patients.

Acromegaloidism with normal growth hormone secretion associated with X-tetrasomy.

We reported a case of a 26-year-old female who was referred to our clinic with the diagnosis of possible acromegaly. She was born from a term pregnancy by forceps delivery. The patient was diagnosed as having hip luxation at one month and spoke her first word at 15 months.

[Assessment of the value of monitoring of PTH levels in the standard surgical management of patients with primary hyperparathyroidism].

Background And Objective: We decided to evaluate the predictive value of the intra-operative monitoring of PTH concentrations for the standard surgical management of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHP).

Patients And Method: 23 patients with PHP were included.

Results: When serum PTH values either at anaesthesia induction or at visualization-manipulation of the gland were compared with those values at ten minutes post-excision, we observed 20 cases which were true positive, 1 true negative and 2 false negative.

[Iodine deficiency in pregnant and fertile women in an area of normal iodine intake].

Background: Our purpose was to evaluate the efficacy of a iodine prophylaxis campaign in pregnant women.

Patients And Method: Eighty-one pregnant and 29 fertile women were enrolled. The urine iodine concentration was determined.