Stress Axis in the Cancer Patient: Clinical Aspects and Management

Hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis alterations are common in cancer patients, mainly due to the different antitumoral therapies, which lead to several acute and late endocrine side effects. This review summarizes the most recent evidence regarding HPA derangement, both in patients with active neoplasms and in cancer survivors, with particular attention to the impact of the different antitumoral treatments, focusing on the major clinical aspects. While acute hormone failure usually results from injury caused directly by tumor burden or surgical interventions, short- and long-term effects are generally due to chemotherapy, radiotherapy and, as more recently shown, to different types of targeted- and immuno-therapy. Adrenal insufficiency (AI) is mostly caused by pituitary or hypothalamic injury rather than a direct damage of the adrenal gland. Moreover, other treatments commonly employed as supportive therapy or in the context of palliative care (i.e., glucocorticoids, opioids) can lead to HPA dysfunction. Epidemiology and pathophysiology of stress axis alterations in cancer patients still require clarification. Since AI may represent a life-threatening condition, monitoring adrenal function in cancer patients is mandatory, especially in subjects who experience fatigue or during stress conditions, in order to promptly start replacement treatment when needed.

ANDROPAUSE AND ITS IMPACTS ON MEN'S HEALTH:

INTRODUCTION: Andropause or Androgenic Disorder of Male Aging (ADD) affects the male population between 60 and 70 years old, and which sometimes starts after 50 years old, as a consequence of the decline of the testosterone hormone. to the health of men who are going through their aging process. OBJECTIVE: Therefore, the present work was developed with the objective of identifying in the literature the implications of andropause in men's health. METHODOLOGY: This is an integrative literature review of a descriptive-exploratory nature, searches were carried out in November 2021, based on a bibliographic survey in the scientific databases of virtual libraries (LILACS), (ScieElo) Google Academic and (MEDLINE), under the application of the descriptors selected by (DeCS), through the Boolean operator and. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: It was shown in the literature that andropause symptoms can be manifested differently from person to person, among the most common symptoms were irritability, decreased libido, erectile dysfunction, depression, sleep disorders and premature ejaculation. However, there are ways of hormone replacement treatment to treat the impacts that andropause can have on men's health. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: This work achieved the proposed objective, as it showed the symptoms that andropause can cause in the male population. Therefore, there is hormone replacement as a treatment method, however there are still taboos that make it difficult for men to take care of their own. health.

A patient with Turner syndrome received the percutaneous vertebroplasty seven times: a case report and literature review

Background Turner syndrome (TS) is characterized as the complete or partial absence of one X chromosome and is an extremely rare disease affecting approximately 1:2500 live female births. Though the prevalence of osteoporosis among women with TS is estimated to be around 55–64% and they suffer more frequently from fractures than normal, few reports concerning TS patients with osteoporosis are able to be seen due to tiny number of patients. Case presentation Here, we report a rare case of TS with osteoporosis, who has undergone percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) seven times because of several vertebral compression fractures (VCFs). G-banded karyotype analysis was performed and the result was 45,X[43]/47,XXX[17], indicating that the patient was a mosaicism of TS karyotype and Trisomy X syndrome karyotype. TS is the underlying cause of low level of estrogen for this patient. The interaction of aging, estrogen deficiency and intestinal dysbacteriosis leads to her severe osteoporosis and multi-segmental VCFs. The aim of this report is to provide recommendations regarding the management of TS patients with osteoporosis by reviewing the clinical presentation of TS, the influence of estrogen deficiency in osteoporosis, etc. Conclusions Early diagnosis and hormone replacement treatment are essential for TS patients to prevent osteoporosis and reduce the risk of fractures. This is a rare case report describing TS patient with severe osteoporosis and VCFs.

Pretreatment with a GnRH agonist and hormone replacement treatment protocol could not improve live birth rate for PCOS women undergoing frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles

Background The ideal protocols of endometrial preparation for polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients are lacking and need further declaration. Our objective was to compare the clinical outcomes of frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) with and without pretreatment gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa) in PCOS patients. Methods In this retrospective cohort study, we used propensity score matching (PSM) to compare the live birth rate between patients who underwent FET with hormone replacement treatment (HRT) and patients with GnRHa pretreatment (GnRHa + HRT). Patients using GnRHa + HRT (n = 514) were matched with 514 patients using HRT. Results The live birth rate was higher in the GnRHa + HRT group compared with the HRT group with no significant difference (60.12% vs 56.03%, p = 0.073). The clinical pregnancy rate (75.29% vs 70.62%), miscarriage rate (14.20% vs 13.81%) and ectopic pregnancy rate (0.39% vs 0.19%) were similar between the two groups. The preterm birth rate in GnRHa + HRT was higher than HRT (20.23% vs 13.04%). No difference was found in live birth between GnRHa +HRT and HRT before adjusting for covariates (crude OR 1.22, 95%CI, 0.99–1.51, p = 0.062) and after PSM (OR 1.47, 95%CI, 0.99–2.83, p = 0.068). In addition, there is a marginally difference after adjusting for covariates (aOR 1.56, 95%CI, 1.001–2.41, p = 0.048), this finding with p-value close to 0.05 represent insufficient empirical evidence. Similar results were obtained after propensity score matching in the entire cohort. Conclusions GnRHa pretreatment could not improve the live birth rate in women with PCOS.

Hypopituitarism and pregnancy: clinical characteristics, management and pregnancy outcome

Purpose To describe the clinical characteristics, management and pregnancy outcome of women with prepregnancy hypopituitarism (HYPO) that received care at our center. Methods Retrospective study describing 12 pregnancies in women with prepregnancy HYPO (two or more pituitary hormonal deficiencies under replacement treatment) that received care during pregnancy at Hospital Santa Creu i Sant Pau. Clinical characteristics, management and pregnancy outcome were systematically collected. Results Average patients’ age was 35 years and HYPO duration at the beginning of pregnancy was 19 years. The most frequent cause of HYPO was surgical treatment of a sellar mass (8 pregnancies). Eight pregnancies were in primigravid women and 10 required assisted reproductive techniques. The hormonal deficits before pregnancy were as follows: GH in 12 women, TSH in 10, gonadotropin in 9, ACTH in 5 and ADH in 2. All deficits were under hormonal substitution except for GH deficit in 4 pregnancies. During pregnancy, 4 new deficits were diagnosed. The dosage of replacement treatment for TSH, ACTH and ADH deficits was increased and GH was stopped. Average gestational age at birth was 40 weeks, gestational weight gain was excessive in 9 women, 8 patients required induction/elective delivery and cesarean section was performed in 6. Average birthweight was 3227 g. No major complications were observed. Five women were breastfeeding at discharge. Conclusions In this group of women with long-standing HYPO, with careful clinical management (including treatment of new-onset hormonal deficits) pregnancy outcome was satisfactory but with a high rate of excessive gestational weight gain and cesarean section.

Bone Biomarkers in Mucopolysaccharidoses

The accumulation of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in bone and cartilage leads to progressive damage in cartilage that, in turn, reduces bone growth by the destruction of the growth plate, incomplete ossification, and growth imbalance. The mechanisms of pathophysiology related to bone metabolism in mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS) include impaired chondrocyte function and the failure of endochondral ossification, which leads to the release of inflammatory cytokines via the activation of Toll-like receptors by GAGs. Although improvements in the daily living of patients with MPS have been achieved with enzyme replacement, treatment for the bone disorder is limited. There is an increasing need to identify biomarkers related to bone and cartilage to evaluate the progressive status and to monitor the treatment of MPS. Recently, new analysis methods, such as proteomic analysis, have identified new biomarkers in MPS. This review summarizes advances in clinical bone metabolism and bone biomarkers.

Gonadotropin-releasing Hormone Agonist Down Regulation Combined With Hormone Replacement Therapy Improves the Reproductive Outcome in the Frozen-thawed Embryo Transfer Cycle of Elderly Patients With Idiopathic Recurrent Implantation Failure

BackgroundTo determine whether Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist down regulation combined with hormone replacement treatment (HRT) can improve the reproductive outcomes in the frozen thawed embryo transfer (FET) cycle of elderly patients with idiopathic recurrent implantation failure (RIF). MethodsThis is a retrospective cohort study analyzing 594 elderly patients (aged 36~43 years old) undergoing third cleavage embryo or blastocyst transfer over nearly 5-year period (January 2015–November 2020) at Northwest Women’s and Children’s Hospital after IVF-ICSI cycles. Patients with known endometriosis or adenomyosis were excluded from the study.According to different endometrial preparation protocols, patients were divided into three groups: natural cycle group (NC, n=62), hormone replacement treatment cycle group (HRT, n=194) and GnRH agonist down regulation combined with HRT cycle group (GnRHa-HRT, n=290).Live birth rate was primary outcome while clinical pregnancy rate, miscarriage rate, on going pregnancy rate were secondary outcomes. ResultsLive birth rate in the GnRHa-HRT group (31.90%) was significantly higher than that in the HRT (21.65%) or NC (16.13%) groups (P<0.0001). Logistic regression model adjusting for the potential confounders showed that patients in the GnRHa-HRT group have significantly higher live birth rate compared with those in the HRT group (OR, 2.708; 95%CI,1.251-5.864, P=0.011). However, live birth rate was not significantly different between GnRHa-HRT and NC groups (OR, 1.509; 95% CI,0.657-3.463, P=0.332), which could be due to the small sample size in the NC group.ConclusionsGnRHa-HRT protocol improves live birth rate in FET cycles of elderly patients with RIF. We hypothesize that GnRHa-HRT protocol enhances implantation related factors and promotes optimal endometrium receptivity, leading to the improved live birth rate. These findings are also useful for further investigating the underlying mechanism of GnRHa-HRT protocol in improving the reproductive outcomes of elderly patients with RIF.Trial registration:The research protocol was approved by the hospital institutional ethics committee (2021002).

Evaluation of Global Coagulation Tests for Monitoring Bleeding Phenotypes and Response to Treatments in FVII Deficiency

Introduction: The management of Factor (F) VII deficiency is complex due to the lack of a clear correlation between FVII levels and the bleeding manifestations of the patients, with a variety of responses to the treatments. Additionally,the presence of FVII inhibitors may also occur. Thus, it is essential to be able to monitoring the hemostatic profile and the effect of the different therapies in each patient individually. Our aim was to perform a personalized analysis of the coagulation status of patients with FVII deficiency and to evaluate their response to new potential therapies using five different coagulation tests. Methods: Six patients were included (clinical data in Table-1):4 with bleeding symptoms on prophylaxis with recombinant activated FVII (rFVIIa), one of them with FVII inhibitors; and 2 untreated patients without bleeding episodes. Blood samples obtained from patients on prophylaxis were collected predose. Prothrombine time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT)were tested using HemosIL ® RecombiPlasTin 2G, and SynthASil respectively. Rotational Thromboelastometry (ROTEM ®) was performed for monitoring the clot formation using blood with corn trypsin inhibitor (CTI) to inhibit contact activation and a low amount of Tissue Factor (TF) as trigger (dilution 1:50,000 of EXTEM reagent). The thrombin generation (TG) was tested with the Calibrated Automated Thrombogram (CAT) system using platelet poor plasma (PPP) obtained from blood with CTI and activated with only 1 pM TF plus phospholipids (PPP-Low ®, Stago). The plasmin generation (PG) was measured in citrated PPP using a comercial kit (Synapse). The total thrombus-formation analysis system (T-TAS ®, Zacros) was conducted by loading CTI blood samples in AR-chips coated with collagen and thromboplastin for assessing thrombus formation mediated by the activation of the coagulation under flow conditions (High shear). The Area under the flow pressure curve (AUC) was calculated over 30 min after starting. Effects of ex vivo spiking doses of factor replacement (rFVIIa) or non-factor replacement treatments (anti-TFPI, clone mAb2021, Creative Biolabs) were tested. Results: aPTT values remained normal in all patients. FVII deficiency significantly affected PT and patients with more severe bleeding phenotype (patient #1, 2, 3, and 4) showed much longer PT values. Similarly, ROTEM and T-TAS assays showed that FVII deficiency only caused an important delayed clotting time (CT) and very anomalous thrombus formation (AUC) in patients with severe bleeding symptoms.More prolonged lag time (LT) and an important decrease in the peak of thrombin and plasmin generation was also observed in the same patients (#1, 2, 3, and 4). Patient #1 with FVII inhibitors presented a more affected hemostatic profile according to all the coagulation parameters obtained with the five different assays. In contrast, the patients #4 and #5 with absence of bleeding complications showed most of these values within the normal reference range obtained from healthy controls. Concentrations of 1µg/ml (equivalent to 90 μg/kg) of the factor-replacement treatment rFVIIa, showed the normalization of the PT, the clotting time (CT), and the restoration of the thrombin and plasmin generation, and the regularization of the coagulation-dependent thrombus formation in all the patients. In vitro spiking with anti-TFPI (400-800 ng/ml), an alternative non-factor replacement treatment,corrected the thrombus formation (AUC) defects under high shear flow observed in the patients, and produced a significant reduction of CT and LT, and increments of thrombin generation although less effectively than the factor replacement therapy. Conclusions: All the global tests, performed with the described conditions in this study, were sensitive enough to show an abnormal hemostatic profile in the FVII-deficient patients with worst clinical symptoms, validating their use to monitor the risk of bleeding events and the responses to different treatments in this deficiency. These assays may allow to monitoring more personalized treatments to these patients. The results also pointed to the possibility that inhibition of TFPI might be useful for treatment of patients with FVII deficiency, opening the idea of its usage especially as an alternative therapy for patients with inhibitors. Research funded by ISCIII-Fondos FEDER PI19/00772 and PI19/00631 Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Alvarez Román: Pfizer: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Sobi: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Biomarin: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Octapharma: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Novo-Nordisk: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Grifols: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; CSL-Behring: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Bayer: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding. García Barcenilla: Roche: Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Speakers Bureau; SOBI: Speakers Bureau; Bayer: Speakers Bureau. Canales: Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Karyopharm: Consultancy, Honoraria; Incyte: Consultancy; Sanofi: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria; F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; iQone: Honoraria; Sandoz: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Eusa Pharma: Consultancy, Honoraria; Celgene/Bristol-Myers Squibb: Consultancy, Honoraria; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Gilead/Kite: Consultancy, Honoraria. Butta: CSL-Behring: Research Funding; Roche: Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Novo-Nordisk: Speakers Bureau. Jiménez-Yuste: Octapharma: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Sobi: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; BioMarin: Consultancy; Pfizer: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; CSL Behring: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Bayer: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; NovoNordisk: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Grifols: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Sanofi: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding.

Effect of Observation of Shou Hui Tong Bian Capsule (Polygonum Multiflorum and Aloe-Based Herbal Capsule for Cathartic Effect) in Rapid Rehabilitation of Joint Surgery

Objective. To observe the effect of Shou Hui Tong Bian capsule (polygonum multiflorum and aloe-based herbal capsule for cathartic effect) in rapid rehabilitation of joint surgery. Methods. A total of 98 patients undergoing perioperative joint surgery in our hospital from July 2019 to March 2020 were included in the study. According to the situation of arthroscopy and joint replacement therapy, the patients were randomly divided into a control group and an observation group, with 49 cases in each group. The control group was treated with conventional therapy. On the basis of the control group, the patients in the observation group were orally administrated with Shou Hui Tong Bian capsule, 2 capsules/time, 3 times/day. Both groups received continuous treatment for 14 days. The clinical effects, awakening time, postoperative exhaust time, and the number of patients with different degrees of abdominal distension in the four groups before and after treatment were observed and compared. Results. After treatment, the total effective rate of arthroscopy in the control group was 66.7%, which was significantly lower than 83.3% in the observation group ( P < 0.05 ). The total effective rate of joint replacement in the control group was 64.0%, which was significantly lower than 84.0% in the observation group ( P < 0.05 ). After arthroscopic treatment and joint replacement treatment, the recovery time and postoperative exhaust time of borborygmus in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (both P < 0.05 ). After the treatment, the number of patients with different degrees of abdominal distension in the arthroscopic and joint replacement treatment group and the control group was significantly improved ( P < 0.05 ), and the observation group was significantly better than the control group ( P < 0.05 ). Conclusion. The curative effect of Shou Hui Tong Bian capsule on patients undergoing arthroscopic joint surgery and joint replacement during perioperative period is obviously superior to that of conventional treatment. It can effectively improve the total effective rate, shorten the first exhaust time, and increase the number of patients without abdominal distension after treatment. It was safe and effective, and worthy of clinical promotion.

505 - Reversible Dementia caused by Hypothyroidism – a case report

OBJECTIVES:Reversible causes are thought to explain about eight percent of all dementias. Hypothyroidism is one of the most important causes of potentially reversible dementia. Deficits in memory, psychomotor slowing, general intelligence, and visuoperceptual skills are particularly involved and may not fully recover. We review a clinical case of a reversible dementia caused by hypothyroidism, in a patientfollowed in our institution.METHODS:Case report using clinical files, and brief literature review using Pubmed database, searching for the keywords “reversible dementia”, “hypothyroidism” and“psychosis”.RESULTS:We present a case of a 76-year-old female patient admitted in our acute unitwith visual and auditive hallucinations and persecutory delusional ideation for 1 month. There was no previous psychiatric history. The patient was fully oriented in space, time and person, but there were clear memory deficits and sensitivity to antipsychotics. We used the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), having the patient scored 17 on the former and 3 on the latter, failing in all tests except for grasping. On the blood tests, fT3 and fT4 levels werenear 0 and TSH was 40 µg/dL. We then discovered that the patient had a thyroidectomy 25 years ago and had been doing replacement treatment since then buthad discontinuated treatment on the previous six months. We also did magnetic resonance imaging that showed frontal microcirculatory changes but without clear atrophy. The patient was treated with aripiprazole 30mg and levothyroxine 0,150mg, being discharged after 1 month, without psychotic symptoms. About 1 year after, we repeated MoCa and FAB, scoring 27 and 16, respectively. The psychotic symptoms didn’t recur even after the antipsychotic discontinuation.CONCLUSION:We present a case of hypothyroidism induced dementia with psychotic symptoms, that fully recovered with thyroid replacement treatment, without previous neurological or psychiatric history.