Christoph Schmid

Brown tumors (BT) are non-neoplastic bone lesions infrequently occurring in patients with long-standing severe hyperparathyroidism (HPT). BT may be identified and characterized using 18-F-sodium fluoride-positron-emission-tomography/computed tomography (¹⁸F-NaF-PET/CT). We present a retrospective series of eight primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) patients with BT imaged with ¹⁸F-NaF-PET/CT.

Introduction: Somatostatin‐secreting neuroendocrine tumours may present with diabetes, cholelithiasis and steatorrhoea. In addition, hypoglycaemia has been associated with somatostatinomas. However, the mechanism of hypoglycaemia in patients with somatostatinomas has not been well characterized.Methods: We describe two patients with recurrent neuroglycopenic episodes caused by somatostatin‐secreting neuroendocrine tumours in the liver, detected by abdominal CTs and whole‐body octreotide scintigraphy scans and confirmed by biopsy.Results: Pancreatic islet hyperplasia and co‐secretion of insulin (in addition to somatostatin) from tumour cells, respectively, have been characterized as completely distinct mechanisms of hypoglycaemia at both the functional and morphological levels in these two patients.Conclusions: Hypoglycaemia may be caused by different mechanisms in patients with somatostatinomas.

A 47-year-old Caucasian man was referred to our clinic with a severe clinical and biochemical phenotype of endogenous hypercortisolism for further evaluation and treatment. In addition to confirming adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-dependent Cushing’s syndrome, we found left temporal hemianopsia, massively increased prolactin, increased growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor 1 values, hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and central hypothyroidism. As the cause of these abnormalities we revealed an invasive macroadenoma of the pituitary secreting ACTH, prolactin and growth hormone, resulting not only in a clinically predominant picture of Cushing’s syndrome but also causing hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and central hypothyroidism. The patient responded surprisingly well to dopamine agonist treatment leading not only to normalisation of prolactin levels but also to clinical and biochemical remission of Cushing’s syndrome. Tumour size decreased successively in follow-up MRI scans. Despite lacking immunohistochemical analysis of tumour tissue, we assume plurihormonal secretion of ACTH, prolactin and growth hormone from pituitary macroadenoma, which fortunately responded well to dopamine agonist treatment.

Objective: Bone disease is a common comorbidity in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). We sought to determine risk factors and identify potential biochemical markers for CF-related bone disease (CFBD) in a unique cohort of CF patients with end-stage lung disease undergoing lung transplantation (LTx) evaluation. Methods: All of the CF patients who were evaluated for LTx at our center between November of 1992 and December of 2010 were included in the study. Clinical data and biochemical markers of bone turnover, as well as bone mineral density (BMD) at the lumbar spine and femoral neck, were evaluated. Spearman’s rho and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used. Results: A total of 102 adult CF patients were evaluated. The mean age was 28.1 years (95% CI: 26.7-29.5), and the mean body mass index was 17.5 kg/m2 (95% CI: 17.2-18.2). Mean T-scores were −2.3 and −1.9 at the lumbar spine and femoral neck, respectively, being lower in males than in females (−2.7 vs. −2.0 at the lumbar spine and −2.2 vs. −1.7 at the femoral neck). Overall, 52% had a T-score of < −2.5 at either skeletal site. The homozygous Phe508del genotype was found in 57% of patients without osteoporosis and in 60% of those with low BMD. Mean T-scores were not particularly low in patients with severe CFTR mutations. Although the BMI correlated with T-scores at the femoral neck and lumbar spine, serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and parathyroid hormone levels did not. Conclusions: CFBD is common in CF patients with end-stage lung disease, particularly in males and patients with a low BMI. It appears that CF mutation status does not correlate with CFBD. In addition, it appears that low BMD does not correlate with other risk factors or biochemical parameters. The prevalence of CFBD appears to have recently decreased, most likely reflecting increased efforts at earlier diagnosis and treatment.

The extent of resection (EOR) is a crucial outcome parameter in transsphenoidal pituitary surgery (TSS), and is linked to endocrinological outcome, postoperative morbidity, and mortality. We aimed to build a robust, quantitative, and easily reproducible imaging score able to predict EOR in TSS.