Choroidal Thickness in Mild Autonomous Cortisol Secretion.

Objectives: To evaluate the patients with mild autonomous cortisol secretion (MACS) by means of choroidal thickness (CT) and also investigate whether CT may be a diagnostic tool in the management of MACS or not. Methods: Twenty-seven patients with MACS and 25 age-sex-matched healthy controls were enrolled in this cross-sectional comparative study. All the participants underwent CT measurement by using Spectralis optical coherence tomography (Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Germany) with enhanced deep imaging mode at the subfoveal, 500-1000-1500 µm nasal and 500-1000-1500 µm temporal to the foveola. Results: The groups were similar in terms of spherical equivalence, age and axial lengths. The mean CT was significantly thicker in patients with MACS than controls in all measurement quadrants (p<0.001). There was no significant correlation between CT, size of the adenoma, basal cortisol, 1mg dexamethasone suppression test, salivary cortisol, 24-hour total urine-free cortisol, ACTH and DHEAS levels. However, 2 mg dexamethasone suppression test results were found to be significantly correlated with CT in temporal 500-1000 and 1500 µm quadrants (r=0.436, p=0.023, r=0.443, p=0.021 and r=0.488, p=0.010, respectively). Five (18.5%) eyes had pachychoroid pigment epitheliopathy in the MACS group. Conclusion: CT increases in patients with MACS and those tend to have pachychoroid pigment epitheliopathy more frequent than healthy individuals. A thicker choroid in the patients with MACS may be a novel biomarker both as a diagnostic tool for the degree of hypercortisolemia and cortisol-related comorbidity.

Parathyroidectomy Results in Primary Hyperparathyroidism: Analysis of the Results From a Single Center.

OBJECTIVES: The curative treatment of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is surgery. Persistent and recurrent disease may develop after surgical treatment. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the surgical cure rate in patients who underwent surgery for PHPT in our clinic. METHODS: The data of patients who underwent parathyroidectomy for PHPT by two experienced surgeons between 2000 and 2015 in our clinic were retrospectively evaluated. Patients who were followed for at least 6 months after their first parathyroidectomy were included in the study. Surgical cure and persistent and recurrent disease rates were evaluated in patients. RESULTS: During this period, 368 interventions were performed in 357 patients (293 F and 64 M) who were operated for PHPT in our clinic, with a mean age of 54.9±13.1 years. In the first surgery, 116 patients (32.5%) had bilateral neck exploration, 251 patients (67.5%) had unilateral neck exploration (UNE) or focused parathyroid surgery (FPS). In the first operation, 343 patients (96.1%) had cure, 14 patients (13 F and 1 M) remained persistent. Secondary surgical intervention was performed in 11 patients. UNE or FPS was performed to 10 patients (90.9%); partial sternotomy was performed to one patient. Ten of the patients had cure. Three of these patients had a solitary parathyroid adenoma that was not removed in the first surgery, and seven patients had a second adenoma. Four patients remained persistent (1.1%). Recurrent disease developed in four patients during follow-up (1.1%). Total cure rate was 97.8%. CONCLUSION: The only definitive treatment for PHPT is surgery. High surgical cure can be achieved by pre-operative evaluation and appropriate surgical planning. However, persistent PHPT may develop, especially due to double adenoma or ectopic location. Patients with persistent PHPT can be evaluated with repeat imaging methods and with appropriate surgical planning, a high cure rate can be obtained in secondary surgery, which can increase the total surgical cure rate. Recurrence rate is rare.

The relationship between low maternal serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and gestational diabetes mellitus according to the severity of 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship between low maternal serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and gestational diabetes mellitus in Turkish pregnant women according to the severity of 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency and assess intact parathyroid hormone levels in women with gestational diabetes mellitus and controls with low and sufficient 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels. METHODS: We analyzed serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and intact parathyroid hormone levels in 234 women with gestational diabetes mellitus and 168 controls. To define the deficiency status, 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were further classified into severely deficient, deficient, insufficient and sufficient groups. RESULTS: Women with gestational diabetes mellitus had significantly lower 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels compared to controls (30.8±16.3 vs. 36.0±16.2 nmol/L). However, when subgroups of 25-hydroxyvitamin D were analyzed, gestational diabetes mellitus was significantly more common only in women with severely deficient 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels. After adjusting for covariates, only severely deficient 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were independently associated with an increased relative risk of gestational diabetes mellitus. The relative risk of gestational diabetes mellitus in women with insufficient and deficient 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels was not statistically significant. Intact parathyroid hormone concentrations were also significantly higher in women with gestational diabetes mellitus compared to the controls (45.3±26.2 vs. 38.7±27.6 pg/ml). CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained from this study provide novel data indicating that only severely deficient maternal serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels are significantly associated with an elevated relative risk of gestational diabetes mellitus, even after adjusting for established risk factors of gestational diabetes mellitus. .

Immunohistochemical expression of ErbB2 in adamantinomatous craniopharyngiomas: a possible target for immunotherapy.

AIM: To determine the immunohistochemical expression of ErbB2 in adamantinomatous craniopharyngiomas (ACP) and to assess its relationship with nuclear expression of ß-catenin in surgically resected human ACP tissue sections and to estimate whether these tumors could be candidates for anti-ErbB2 therapy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The ErbB2 and ß-catenin immunostaining was performed on paraffin embedded tissue sections of 20 ACP using avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex method. ErbB2 immunoreactivity was interpreted according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology/ College of American Pathologists criterions for breast carcinoma. RESULTS: Foci of nuclear reactivity for ß-catenin was observed in all ACP tissue specimens mainly concentrated in whorl like arrays of the epithelial cells. Two (10%) of the cases were score 3+ for ErbB2 as demonstrated by strong complete membrane staining. However, the localization of 3+ ErbB2 cells was different from those with nuclear ß-catenin immunoreactivity. CONCLUSION: Our preliminary data demonstrate score 3+ staining for ErbB2 in 10% of ACP and different localization of 3+ ErbB2 cells and cells with nuclear ß-catenin immunoreactivity. However, because of the small number of cases, further studies with larger samples should be conducted to verify and validate our preliminary data and to determine the effect of ErbB2 protein in ACP cell growth, survival and differentiation.