Adrenal rest tissue in gonads of patients with classical congenital adrenal hyperplasia: multicenter study of 45 French male patients.

Objectives: Several cases of testicular adrenal rest tumours have been reported in men with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) due to the classical form of 21-hydroxylase deficiency but the prevalence has not been established. The aims of this report were to evaluate the frequency of testicular adrenal rest tissue in this population in a retrospective multicentre study involving eight endocrinology centres, and to determine whether treatment or genetic background had an impact on the occurrence of adrenal rest tissue.

Material And Methods: Testicular adrenal rest tissue (TART) was sought clinically and with ultrasound examination in forty-five males with CAH due to the classical form of 21-hydroxylase deficiency.

[Thyroid hormone analogs: an important biological supply and new therapeutic possibilities].

Thyroid hormones [predominantly 3, 5, 3 -I- iodothyronine (T3)] regulate cholesterol and lipoprotein metabolism but cardiac effects restrict their use as hypolipidemic drugs. New molecules have been developped which target specifically the thyroid hormone receptor ss, predominant isoform in liver. The first thyroid hormone agonist, called GC1, has selective actions compared to T3.

[New immunomodulators in treatment of Graves'ophtalmopathy].

Treatment of severe Graves'ophtalmopathy (GO) is a complex therapeutic challenge and spite any efforts, about one third of patients are disappointed with the outcome of treatment. Intravenous glucocorticoids (GCIV), orbital radiotherapy, or the combination of both are most frequently used for their immunosuppressive effects. The anti-CD 20 monoclonal antibody rituximab (RTX) induces transient B-cell depletion that may potentially modify the active inflammatory phase of thyroid-associated ophtalmopathy (TAO).

[Long-term outcome of the adult onset craniopharyngiomas].

There is few published series dealing on the long-term outcome of the adult-onset craniopharyngiomas. We report the long term clinical, tomodensitometric and MRI data outcome of 35 (23 woman and 12 men) consecutive adult-onset cured for craniopharyngiomas between 1983 and 2002, and followed-up in Rennes University Hospital. The operation was performed via frontopterional approach in 59% and transphenoïdal approach in 41% of cases.

[Pilot study and preliminary validation of the French version of a quality-of-life questionnaire specific for subjects with growth hormone deficiency].

This study forms part of a research project seeking to develop a standardized questionnaire by which clinicians can assess the impact of growth hormone (GH) deficiency and its treatment on the "perceived health" or health-related quality of life of adults. The specific aim of this study was to translate and adapt for French patients the AGHDA (Adult Growth Hormone Deficiency Assessment) a standardized health-related quality of life measure for use with GH-deficient adults, initially developed in the United Kingdom, and to collect data which could be used to assess the main psychometric characteristics of its French version the ISPA-HC (Indicateur de Santé Perceptuelle Adulte-Hormone de Croissance). The main properties analyzed are: 1/ The scale's acceptability, as determined by means of face-to-face interviews with a small number of subjects, then by an ad hoc questionnaire administered during a test-retest study; 2/ The scale's reliability, as determined by a test-retest study (with a 15-days interval between tests); 3/ The scale's concurrent validity, as expressed by comparison with scores obtained by means of a generic quality of life scale, the ISPN (the French version of the Nottingham Health Profile).

[Acromegaly due to ectopic GH RH secretion by a bronchial carcinoid tumor: a case report].

Ectopic GH RH is a very uncommon cause of acromegaly (<1% of acromegaly). We report the case of an 41 year-old woman with acromegaly due to a GH-RH-secreting bronchial carcinoid tumor. Elevated serum GH (14 ng/ml) was paradoxically stimulated after glucose loading.

Time course of GH and IGF-1 levels following withdrawal of long-acting octreotide in acromegaly.

Aim: Several studies have demonstrated the efficacy of octreotide LAR administered intramuscularly at 4-week intervals in the treatment of acromegaly. In contrast, few data are available on the time course of GH and IGF-1 plasma levels following octreotide LAR withdrawal. This prompted us to study these parameters for up to 20 weeks following drug withdrawal in a group of 18 acromegalic patients treated for one year.

[Anti-TPO antibodies and screening of thyroid dysfunction in type 1 diabetic patients].

The diagnosis of thyroid dysfunction is often late in type 1 diabetic population. So, the aims of this study were 1) to evaluate the prevalences of thyroperoxydase (TPO) and thyroglobulin (Tg) autoantibodies detected by highly sensitive radioimmunological method in a cohort of 258 adult type 1 diabetic patients without evidence of clinical thyroid disease; 2) to determine whether or not measurement of TPO and/or Tg antibodies can identify subjects at risk of clinical or infraclinical thyroid dysfunction by measuring TSH in the entire group. TPO antibodies were found in 45 of the 258 diabetic patients (17%).

Comparison of octreotide acetate LAR and lanreotide SR in patients with acromegaly.

Background And Objective: The most effective option for the medical treatment of patients with acromegaly is the use of somatostatin analogues. Long-acting depot formulations for intramuscular injection of two somatostatin analogues have recently become available: octreotide acetate LAR (Sandostatin LAR, Novartis Pharma AG) and lanreotide SR (Somatuline, Ipsen Biotech). We wished to compare efficacy of octreotide LAR and lanreotide SR in acromegalic patients.

Antithyroid drugs and Graves' disease--prospective randomized assessment of long-term treatment.

Objective: Although antithyroid drugs (ATD) are widely used in the treatment of Graves' disease, management protocols, especially treatment duration, remain a subject of debate. The rate of relapse after short-term regimens of less than 6 months with ATD at decreasing doses is higher than after longer treatments from 12 to 24 months. As no prospective study has provided data on even longer protocols exceeding 2 years, we conducted a prospective trial to determine potential benefits of a 42-month treatment compared with an 18-month treatment.

[Synthetic antithyroid drugs and Basedow's disease or the choice of a therapeutic strategy].

We present the conclusions of two prospective studies of patients examined at their first manifestation of Graves' disease and treated with antithyroid drugs (ATD). The purpose of the first study was to investigate the effects of long-term treatment: the patients were given carbimazole in degressive doses without hormone replacement for 18 months, the followed up for 2 to 6 years after drug withdrawal. The second study was designed to determine the effect of treatment duration on the prognosis: the patients were given an ATD according to the same protocol for a duration randomly set at either 6 or 18 months, then seen again 2 years after ATD withdrawal.

[Induction of ovulation by pulsatile gonadoliberin administration. Indications and limits].

With its simplicity, innocuity and efficacy, pulsatile GnRH administration constitutes a considerable advance in ovulation induction techniques. Its purpose is not to replace classic methods like Clomiphene Citrate, gonadotropins or dopaminergic agonists, but to complement them. While the choice of administration route, IV vs SC is still controversial, the efficacy depends mainly on the selection of the patients susceptible of benefiting from this therapy.

Antithyroid drugs and Graves' disease: a prospective randomized evaluation of the efficacy of treatment duration.

A prospective randomized study was performed in patients with hyperthyroid Graves' disease (GD) in order to compare long (18 months) and short term (6 months) antithyroid drug treatment on the remission rate. A therapeutic protocol was offered to all GD patients who had not been treated for this disease previously. All patients studied who followed the protocol were rechecked 2 yr after treatment was withdrawn, or earlier in the case of relapse.

[Gastric bypass in the treatment of major obesity. 15 cases].

Gastro-jejunal bypass, as derived from Mason's technique, consists of excluding most of the stomach, leaving only a 60 ml fundic pouch anastomosed with a Y-shaped jejunal loop. Fifteen patients (11 women and 4 men), aged from 21 to 51 years, were operated upon by this technique. In 3 of them, a jejuno-ileal bypass was transformed into a gastric bypass.