A successful case of pregnancy in a woman with ACTH-independent Cushing's syndrome treated with ketoconazole and metyrapone.

Cushing's syndrome (CS) is a rare disease caused by a chronic excess of cortisol. Hypercortisolaemia may affect reproductive system leading to infertility in women. However, some of the patients remain fertile, although pregnancy is uncommon.

[Clinical procedure in amiodarone-induced thyroid dysfunction].

Amiodarone is an antiarrhythmic drug frequently used in everyday clinical practice. Its mechanism of action involves the interaction with many receptors, including those in the cardiac conduction system. Amiodarone usefulness is protect in the treatment of a variety of tachyarrhythmias, both benign and life-threatening.

Angiogenic and anti-angiogenic factors in adrenal tumours.

It appears that neoangiogenesis is an important factor in tumour invasion and the formation of metastases in several human cancers, and studies on pro-angiogenic and antiangiogenic factors are therefore of considerable interest to researchers. In this review we present pro-angiogenic and anti-angiogenic factors and other growth factors and their role in the formation of new blood vessels in adrenal tumours. Assessment of the angiogenic status of adrenal tumours and their vascular pattern may be useful for discriminating benign from malignant lesions and knowledge of their angiogenesis may be essential to the drawing up of promising treatment strategies for patients with malignant tumours.

[Disorders of calcium metabolism during pregnancy and breast feeding].

Hypoparathyroidism following thyroidectomy or due to autoimmune process is the most common cause of hypocalcaemia. If untreated, maternal hypocalcaemia may stimulate fetal parathyroids which results in bone demineralization. Calcium supplementation may also reduce the risk of hypertension.

[Calcium homeostasis in pregnancy and lactation].

The daily required dose of calcium is greatly increased during pregnancy. It is caused by the transition of about 30 g to the fetus and by enhanced urinary excretion. The normal calcium homeostasis is maintained by parathormone (PTH), calcitriol and PTH-related peptide (PTHrP).

[Clinical implications of occurrence of antithyroid antibodies in pregnant women and in the postpartum period].

Antithyroid antibodies are classified to immunoglobulin G. It is a varied group of antibodies as there are antibodies against TSH-receptor, against thyroid peroxidase and also against thyroglobulin. Pregnancy is a period in which the titres of antibodies decrease to protect fetus from abortion; but just after delivery they increase again.

[Hypoglycemia--a new view on the problem of classification and clinical diagnostic].

The commonly applied division of hypoglycemia into reactive and non-reactive one is too general and often times insufficient in clinical practice. The authors of this study presented a classification based on the clinical profile of patients with hypoglycemia. They also recommended patterns allowing proper diagnostic procedure in each classified group.