Advances in Clinical and Experimental Medicine jest oficjalnym pismem Uniwersytetu Medycznego im. Piast?w Sl?skich we Wroc?awiu. Publikowane s? w nim prace naukowe polskie, jak r?wnie? zagraniczne.

Various hormonal disorders can influence bone metabolism and cause secondary osteoporosis. The consequence of this is a significant increase of fracture risk. Among pituitary disorders such effects are observed in patients with Cushing’s disease, hyperprolactinemia, acromegaly, and hypopituitarism. Severe osteoporosis is the result of the coexistence of some of these disorders and hypogonadism at the same time, which is quite often.

Acromegaly is a chronic disease characterized by hypersecretion of growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1). Electrolyte disturbances such as hypercalcemia and hyperphosphatemia are reported in patients with this disorder. There is limited data on vitamin D status in subjects with acromegaly. The aim of the study was to determine calcium, inorganic phosphate, magnesium, alkaline phosphatase, and 25(OH)D levels with regard to the activity of the disease. We also studied correlations of 25(OH)D and IGF-1, GH, body mass, body mass index, and age. A study group consisted of 55 acromegalic patients, and was divided into three subgroups: active acromegaly (AA), well-controlled acromegaly (WCA), cured acromegaly (CA). We enrolled 29 healthy subjects to a control group (CG). Vitamin D deficiency was recorded in all AA patients, 13 WCA patients (92.86%), 10 CA patients (62.5%), and 13 controls (54.17%). The highest 25(OH)D levels were found in the CG group and the lowest in the AA group (p = 0.012). The dose of octreotide did not influence serum 25(OH)D levels. A significant positive correlation between IGF-1 and 25(OH)D levels was observed in the AA group (r = 0.58, p = 0.024). Inorganic phosphate levels were the highest in the AA group. In conclusion, active acromegalic patients have lower 25(OH)D levels in comparison with the CG and are at higher risk of vitamin D deficiency.

Trabecular bone score (TBS) index has recently been obtained as a result of textural greyscale analysis of DXA images. Because it enables the assessment of bone microarchitectural texture, TBS may be useful in evaluating bone quality. This study explores the current knowledge of the use of TBS in patients with endocrine disorders with co-occurring bone structure changes. Currently, the clinical importance TBS was verified in terms of disorders of the growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor 1 (GH/IGF-I) axis, glucocorticoid excess, thyroid and parathyroid disease, as well as in diabetes mellitus type 1 and 2. It has been clarified that patients suffering from various endocrinopathies are a group in which TBS should be used routinely because it correlates with clinical factors and may improve patient management in various endocrine disorders. Trabecular bone score (TBS) index has recently been obtained as a result of textural greyscale analysis of DXA images. Because it enables the assessment of bone microarchitectural texture, TBS may be useful in evaluating bone quality. This study explores the current knowledge of the use of TBS in patients with endocrine disorders with co-occurring bone structure changes. Currently, the clinical importance TBS was verified in terms of disorders of the growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor 1 (GH/IGF-I) axis, glucocorticoid excess, thyroid and parathyroid disease, as well as in diabetes mellitus type 1 and 2. It has been clarified that patients suffering from various endocrinopathies are a group in which TBS should be used routinely because it correlates with clinical factors and may improve patient management in various endocrine disorders.

Gonadotroph adenomas occur commonly in middle-aged adults without any specific endocrinological symptoms. To date, only 30 cases of gonadotropinoma causing ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome in pre-menopausal women have been reported. A 37-year old woman with pituitary macroadenoma and hyperprolactinaemia was admitted to the Department of Endocrinology, Diabetology and Isotope Therapy. She presented with recurrent ovarian cysts, menstrual disturbances, headaches, visual impairment and galactorrhea. Her endocrine profile showed normal values of FSH, elevated concentrations of estradiol and suppressed LH levels. Transsphenoidal resection of the tumor tissue resulted in normalization of the hormone values and improvement in the clinical picture. Gonadotroph adenomas should be considered in the differential diagnosis in premenopausal women with OHSS.

Introduction: The vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene is one of the most widely studied tumorigenesis-related genes. The primary objective of this study was assessment of possible roles of VDR gene polymorphisms in acromegaly, with regard to the activity of the disease and compared them with a control group. Furthermore, we have assessed the associations between these polymorphisms with vitamin D status as well as with TBS (trabecular bone score) and risk for osteoporotic fracture in acromegaly patients. Materials and Methods: We studied 69 patients with acromegaly and 51 healthy controls (CG). Acromegaly patients were divided into three subgroups on the basis of disease activity (AA, active acromegaly; CD, controlled disease; CA, cured acromegaly). In all patients, blood samples were obtained to assess the hormonal and metabolic status as well as genetic analysis. VDR polymorphisms were determined by means of two methods, Polymerase Chain Reactions (PCR) and minisequencing (SNaPshot). Results: Genotype frequencies for VDR ApaI, TaqI, BsmI, and FokI polymorphisms did not deviate significantly from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) in the acromegaly group as well as in the control group. There was no statistically significant difference in distributions of these four VDR genotypes between acromegaly patients and the control group. This study revealed statistically significant negative correlation between risk of major osteoporotic fractures and genotypes tt (TaqI), aa (ApaI) and bb (BsmI) in acromegaly groups. Furthermore, the negative correlations were observed between TBS and risk for major osteoporotic fractures and hip fractures. Conclusions: Our study suggests that tt (TaqI), aa (ApaI) and bb (BsmI) of VDR gene may be associated with better bone quality and microarchitecture (higher TBS), which lead to a lower risk of osteoporotic fractures in acromegaly patients. TBS may be a useful tool for predicting risk of fractures in acromegaly patients.