ACTA ENDOCRINOLOGICA (BUC)

Background. Atypical antipsychotics proved efficacy in monotherapy and more so in\r\nassociation with mood stabilizers, but choosing the atypical antipsychotic requires special\r\ncautions due to metabolic adverse effects. The aim: to verify if Quetiapine-valproate\r\ncombination improves rapidly acute depressive symptoms and has a good endocrinemetabolic\r\ntolerability. Case presentation. A 49 years male, bipolar patient, admitted for a\r\nmajor depressive episode. The patient also has type 2 DM for which he takes oral antidiabetics.\r\nWhen inpatient, he had persistent hyperglycemia (>250mg/dL). DM&#8217;s\r\ncomplications (poly-neuropathy, retinopathy and right bundle-branch block). Diabetic status\r\noriented us to choose quetiapine (600 mg/day) for both antidepressive effect and its safe\r\nmetabolic profile associated with valproate (1000 mg/day). Antidiabetic medication was\r\nadjusted following the clinical outcome. Instruments. for depression we used Montgomery-\r\nAsberg Rating Scale (MARS), for mania Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), Clinical\r\nGlobal Impression for Bipolar Disorder (CGI-BP), for diabetes (glycemia, HbA1c,\r\nglycosuria, body weight, adverse events and relapse were followed-up for 6 months. The\r\nevaluations were performed weekly during hospitalization (6 weeks) and then monthly, for\r\n6 months quetiapine together with valproate therapy led to remission of depressive\r\nsymptoms (MADRS <50% vs. baseline). At the same time DM was compensated with\r\nglimpirid and metformin (glycemia < 120mg/dL). These results maintained till the end of\r\nthe follow-up period. Conclusion. Quetiapine associated to valproate in acute and chronic\r\nmanagement of bipolar depression proved to be efficient and well tolerated, along 6 months,\r\nin patient with type 2 diabetes.

Background. Patients with acromegaly (caused by growth-hormone-secreting pituitary adenomas) are at increased risk of hypopituitarism, in particular hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, before and after multimodal therapy. In affected women of reproductive age, fertility is impaired and complex fertility treatments are needed to achieve conception. C ase presentation. We present the case of a young woman with acromegaly caused by a GH-secreting macroadenoma with suprasellar and bilateral cavernous sinus extension; hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and secondary hypothyroidism were present from the initial evaluation. Neurosurgical intervention was repeatedly recommended but the patient refused it initially; also she was non-compliant to the medical treatment of acromegaly. Transsphenoidal tumor debulking with adjuvant gamma-knife radiotherapy was eventually performed. Following treatment persistent active acromegaly and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism were diagnosed. Under chronic estroprogestative replacement therapy, the patient conceived and delivered a full-term healthy newborn without any complications. Possible mechanisms are discussed. Conclusions. Secondary hypogonadotropic hypogonadism in pituitary patients, even when considered permanent (after surgery and radiotherapy), can exceptionally allow spontaneous conception and normal course of pregnancy.

Our recent studies, led on 1336 tumor samples coming from 11 types of cancer, published in the New England Journal of Medicine 367:1621-1630 show that the receptor of the follicule-stimulating hormone (FSH receptor) is expressed in a preferential way in the tumor blood vessels. No expression has been detected at the level of the blood vessels in healthy tissues, with the exception of the reproductive organs where it is present in much lower concentrations than in tumors. Being directly accessible to the intravenously delivered agents, the FSH receptor can be used as target for cancer imaging and drug delivery.