Liver metastasis of a neuroendocrine neoplasm of unknown primary origin in a female patient with a history of breast cancer.

We report on and discuss a case of a female patient diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996, which was histopathologically assessed as an invasive ductal carcinoma. The patient was admitted to our Department in 2017 with a liver metastasis of a neuroendocrine tumour. On admission she had no symptoms of an endo-crinopathy and was in a good general condition. Due to unknown primary site of the metastasis and given the patient's history of breast cancer, it was suspected that the breast cancer was in fact a neuroendocrine tumour. This hypothesis was confirmed by comparing histopathological specimens of the breast and liver tumours using advanced pathological methods.

Assessment of real-world usage of lanreotide AUTOGEL 120 in Polish acromegalic patients - results from the prospective 12-month phase of Lanro-Study.

AIM OF THE STUDY: To assess resource utilization and costs of treatment with lanreotide AUTOGEL 120 mg (ATG120) administered as part of routine acromegaly care in Poland. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A multicentre, non-interventional, observational study on resource utilization in Polish acromegalic patients treated with ATG120 at 4 weeks or extended (> 4 weeks) dosing interval. The study recruited adult acromegalic patients treated medically for ≥ 1 year including at least 3 injections of ATG120. Data on dosing interval, aspects of administration, and resource utilization were collected prospectively during 12 months. Costs were calculated in PLN from the public health-care payer perspective for the year 2013. RESULTS: 139 patients were included in the analysis. Changes in dosing regimen were reported in 14 (9.4%) patients. Combined treatment was used in 11 (8%) patients. Seventy patients (50%) received ATG120 at an extended dosing interval; the mean number of days between injections was 35.56 (SD 8.4). ATG120 was predominantly administered in an out-patient setting (77%), by health-care professionals (94%). Mean time needed for preparation and administration was 4.33 and 1.58 min, respectively, mean product wastage - 0.13 mg. Patients were predominantly treated in an out-patient setting with 7.06 physician visits/patient/year. The most common control examinations were magnetic resonance imaging of brain and brain stem (1.36/patient/year), ultrasound of the neck (1.35/patient/year), GH (1.69/patient/year), glycaemia (1.12/patient/year), IGF-1 (0.84/patient/year), pituitary-thyroid axis hormone levels assessment (TSH-0.58/patient/year, T4-0.78/patient/year). There were 0.43 hospitalizations/patient/year. For direct medical costs estimated at PLN 50 692/patient/year the main item was the costs of ATG120 (PLN 4103.87/patient/month; 97%). The mean medical cost, excluding pharmacotherapy, was PLN 1445/patient/year (out-patient care - 49%, hospitalization - 23%, diagnostics/laboratory tests - 28%). CONCLUSIONS: These results represent the current use of ATG120 in the population of Polish acromegalic patients in a realistic clinical setting. Findings that 50% of patients could be treated with dose intervals of longer than 28 days support the potential of ATG120 to reduce the treatment burden.

Hormonal activity in clinically silent adrenal incidentalomas.

INTRODUCTION: The rapid development of modern imaging techniques, has led to an increase in accidentally discovered adrenal masses without clinically apparent hormonal abnormalities. Such tumours have been termed "incidentalomas". The diagnostic work-up in patients with adrenal incidentalomas is aimed at the determination of hormonal activity of the tumour and identification of patients with potentially malignant tumours. The aim of our study was a retrospective analysis of selected clinical characteristics and hormonal studies in accidentally discovered adrenal tumours. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Fourty hundred sixty-three patients with serendipitously discovered adrenal masses, diagnosed and treated in the Department of Endocrinology and Internal Diseases, Medical University of Gdansk as well as in the affiliated Endocrinology Clinic between 1993 and October of 2009 were included in the analysis. Out of all patients, 245 were referred for adrenalectomy. RESULTS: We found that clinically "silent" tumours often demonstrate subclinical hormonal activity. In our report, increased 24-h urinary excretion of cortisol correlated positively with tumour size (p < 0.001). Moreover, a statistical relationship was demonstrated between tumour size and serum cortisol concentration assessed in the 1 mg dexamethasone suppression test (p < 0.001). Increased values of dehydroepiandrosterone/dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate were more often found in malignant than in benign tumours (p < 0.01). Urinary concentrations of 17-ketosteroids correlate positively with diagnosis of adrenocortical cancer (p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: We found that clinically "silent" tumours often demonstrate subclinical hormonal activity (subclinical Cushing syndrome, subclinical pheochromocytoma, low-symptomatic adrenocortical cancer).

The profile of ErbB/Her family genes copy number assessed by real-time PCR in parathyroid adenoma and hyperplasia associated with sporadic primary hyperparathyroidism.

Hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) is a relatively frequent endocrinopathy, however, the molecular mechanisms of its etiology remain poorly understood. This disorder is mainly associated with benign tumours (adenoma) and hyperplasia of the parathyroid, hence, the focus is directed also to genes that are likely to be involved in carcinogenesis. Among such genes are ErbB/Her family genes already used in diagnosis of other tumours (e.g., breast carcinoma) and reported also to play a role in development of endocrine lesions. So far, ErbB-1/Her-1/EGFR expression has been detected in pHPT-associated adenomas and hyperplasia as opposed to no expression in normal parathyroid tissue. Moreover, losses or gains of the fragments of chromosomes where ErbB/Her genes are located have been reported. In this study, the gene dosage of ErbB/Her family genes were determined for the first time in parathyroid adenomas, hyperplasia and morphologically unchanged tissue in order to establish their putative role in the development of the disease. Genomic DNA was isolated from 33 patients with sporadic hyperparathyroidism and the gene copy numbers were assessed using real-time PCR. The ErbB/Her genes' profile was unaltered in most of the examined samples. Two low-level amplifications of ErbB-1/Her-1/EGFR gene, two deletions of ErbB-2/Her-2, and six deletions of ErbB-4/Her-4 were found. The ErbB-3/Her-3 gene remained unaffected. No correlation with clinical parameters was found for any gene. Both the low number of alterations and a lack of their associations with clinical parameters exclude the prognostic value of the ErbB/Her genes family in parathyroid tumourigenesis. Nevertheless, the ErbB-4/Her-4 deletions seem to be interesting for further investigations, especially in the context of PTH secretion.

Apoplexy of clinically silent pituitary adenoma during prostate cancer treatment with LHRH analog.

LHRH analogs have become a promising modality in prostate cancer therapy as an alternative to surgical castration, and the use of these agents is generally considered to be safe. Since now, only few cases of an apoplexy of previously undiagnosed pituitary adenoma (usually gonadotropinoma) at the beginning of therapy have been described in the medical literature. We present a case of a 74 year old patient who was diagnosed of prostate cancer at the age of 68. There was no evidence of metastatic disease. Radical prostatectomy was performed and LHRH analog gosereline (Zoladex 3.6 mg s.c.) was administered. During the first day after gosereline injection the patient developed headaches that became more severe over the next 3 days. Then the patient experienced nausea and vomiting, double vision and eyelid ptosis. On the 5th day the patient temporarily lost consciousness and was admitted to hospital. Imaging (computerized tomography, magnetic resonance imaging) revealed the presence of a pituitary tumor and hemorrhage within the gland. There was no evidence of pituitary dysfunction in hormonal studies. Neurosurgical intervention was postponed for 5 days after admission. Pathological mass with signs of recent hemorrhage was removed via transsphenoidal route. The tumor had negative immunohistochemical GH, ACTH and PRL staining. Neurological impairment resolved within 9 months after the operation. As a result the patient required adrenal and thyroid replacement. During 6 years of follow-up there was no evidence of prostate cancer recurrence.

[Multi-reasons, severe megaloblastic anaemia--description of two cases]. / Wieloprzyczynowa ciezka niedokrwistosc megaloblastyczna--opis dwóch przypadków.

We report two cases of young patients (44 and 26 years old) with severe macrocytic, megaloblastic anaemia in course of Addison-Biermer's disease. In addition we found also other reasons of vitamin B12 deficiency. The one of them was chronic autoimmune thyroiditis and the second was, surely, Helicobacter pylori infection. The presented cases confirm the importance of spreading the diagnosis with antithyroid antibodies detection and Helicobacter pylori test in all patients with Addison-Biermer's diseaese.

[Incidentally discovered adrenal masses in the Department of Internal Medicine, Endocrinology and Hemostatic Disorders, Medical University of Gdansk]. / Przypadkowo wykryte guzy nadnerczy w materiale Kliniki Chorób Wewnetrznych, Endokrynologii i Zaburzen Hemostazy Akademii Medycznej w Gdansku.

UNLABELLED: Clinically silent adrenal masses (incidentaloma) are incidentally discovered lesions when noninvasive imaging methods (ultrasonography--USG, computer tomography--CT, magnetic resonance imaging--MRI) are performed for the reason other than known or suspected adrenal disease. Most of studies report the prevalence of adrenal incidentaloma range between 1 and 10% in radiological series. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Between 1993 and 03.2004 we observed 198 patients with incidentalomas of adrenal glands (144 females--72.7% and 54 males--27.3%). RESULTS: After endocrinological evaluation, 164 patients were qualified for surgery. In 119 (72.5%) cases open adrenalectomy was performed, and in 45 (27.5%) laparoscopic adrenalectomy was done. Adrenocortical adenoma was diagnosed in 54.9%, adrenal hyperplasia in 8.5%, adrenal carcinoma in 6.7%, pheochromocytoma in 12.9% (in 3.1% of all cases malignant pheochromocytoma was diagnosed), in 4.9% others malignant tumors (primary or metastatic), in 4.9% adrenal cysts and in 7.1% other rare adrenal pathologies were found. CONCLUSION: All malignancies were found in tumors with the diameter over 3 cm. In tumors with diameter over 6 cm malignant cases were found in 70.8%.