Pituitary function in patients with newly diagnosed untreated systemic lupus erythematosus.

Objectives: To determine whether hormonal dysfunction involving the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, prolactin (PRL) secretion, and sex hormone status contribute to development of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Methods: 11 patients with SLE and 9 healthy controls were tested for their total anterior pituitary gland reserve by simultaneous injection of corticotropin-, growth hormone- (GH), thyrotropin-, and gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). Serum concentrations of adrenocorticotropin (ACTH), cortisol, GH, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), PRL, luteinising hormone (LH), and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) were measured at baseline and after injection.

[Spontaneous healing of retroperitonea fibroasis after successful therapy of sigmoid carcinoma].

In a 64 year old man sigma cancer was diagnosed unexpectedly during an operation for retroperitoneal fibrosis (histologically benign fibrosis), that had caused unilateral hydronephrosis. In the following hemicolectomy this tumor of the colon turned out to be a medium high grade adenocarcinoma (tumor staging pT2, pN1, DUKES C). Chemotherapy with 450 mg/m2 5-FU once a week and a concomitant therapy with laevamisol was added for 6 months.

Successful symptomatic management of a patient with Ménétrier's disease with long-term antibiotic treatment.

We present the case of a 79-year-old female patient with criteria typical for Ménétrier's disease, i.e. enlargement of the gastric folds due to foveolar hyperplasia associated with severe protein-loss along with epigastric pain, nausea, vomiting and weight loss.

[Ethylene glycol poisoning and brain injury--a dangerous combination].

We report on a patient after brain injury additionally showing signs of ethylene glycol intoxication. CT-scan showed a subdural hematoma, which in spite of increasing neurological deficit didn't show any enlargement. Metabolic acidosis with an increased anion gap and osmolar gap led to the diagnosis of ethylene glycol intoxication.

Culture of human insulinoma cells: development of a neuroendocrine tumor cell- and human pancreatic islet cell-specific monoclonal antibody.

We report on the culture of human insulinoma cells derived from a 32-year-old male patient with hyperinsulinism due to an insulinoma of the pancreas. A single-cell suspension was made by passing insulinoma fragments through a fine-gauge stainless-steel mesh. Cluster-forming insulinoma cells resembling pancreatic islets grew in the presence of fibroblasts.