Day 26 - Magic Foundation

So wish that my son and I could attend this together. 
Maybe it will work out next year!

Please click here to see what The Magic Foundation Convention is all about!

Anyone have plans to attend?

Day 23 - Have you read this book?

Please comment if you have read this book...  I'm going to try to find it and see what it's all about.  Amazon has it listed as 4 1/4 stars.....  the disease in the book is not called Cushing's Disease but something else that was made up.

Day 22

Pituitary

The pituitary is a pea-sized gland located at the base of the brain in the middle of the head and right below the optic nerves. It serves as the “master gland” that regulates the secretion of the majority of hormones in the body from all of the other glands, such as the thyroid and adrenal glands, as well as the ovary and testicles. The pituitary gland is divided into the anterior and posterior lobes, both of which secrete different hormones that have unique functions in the body. The anterior pituitary secretes prolactin, growth hormone and the gonadotropins, which include luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH). The posterior pituitary makes antidiuretic hormone (ADH) and oxytocin. The secretion of the hormones from the pituitary gland itself is also controlled by hormones coming from part of the brain directly above the pituitary called the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus and the pituitary gland are connected by the pituitary stalk.



Pituitary tumors result from a single cell losing the ability to control its growth. These tumors are almost always benign or non-cancerous. Very rarely can a pituitary tumor become malignant or cancerous. A tumor that is less than 1 cm in size is called a microadenoma, and a tumor that is larger than 1 cm is a macroadenoma.



Microadenomas usually do not cause symptoms related to their size, but macroadenomas can cause headaches as well as visual loss secondary to compression of the optic nerves. In addition, the normal pituitary tissue can be compressed by a macroadenoma, so deficiencies of anterior pituitary hormones can be identified on blood tests and based on symptoms. Pituitary tumors are also categorized according to their ability to make hormones and cause symptoms.

The functional tumors include those that secrete prolactin (prolactinomas), ACTH (Cushing’s disease), growth hormone (acromegaly) and TSH. Tumors that do not secrete functional hormones are called non-functioning pituitary tumors. The most common tumors in adults are prolactinomas followed by non-functioning tumors, ACTH-secreting tumors, GH-secreting tumors and TSH-secreting tumors. In children, the most common tumor is also a prolactin-secreting tumor followed by ACTH-secreting tumors, GH-secreting tumors, non-functioning tumors and TSH-secreting tumors.

Credit:  http://www.mdanderson.org/patient-and-cancer-information/care-centers-and-clinics/care-centers/endocrine/pituitary-tumor-program/pituitary-terminology.html

Day 21 - Prom

Day 20 - Micro vs. Macro

PITUITARY ADENOMA - MICRO VS MACRO DIFFERENTIATION

Pituitary adenomas constitute 10% of all intracranial neoplasms. They are classified anatomically based on size:

1. micro-adenoma if less than 10mm and
2. macro-adenoma if more than 10mm in diameter.

They are also classified functionally based on whether there are

1. secretory or
2. non-secretory.

The most common secretory macro-adenoma is the prolactinoma. Although pituitary micro-adenomas are much more common than macro-adenomas on pathologic examinations, macro-adenomas are twice as frequent on imaging studies. Macro-adenomas are the single most common suprasellar mass (1/3 to 1/2 of lesions).Prolactin-producing hypophyseal adenoma (prolactinoma) is the most common functional pituitary adenoma. Its prevalence peaks in women between 20 and 30 years of age. Hyperprolactinemia can be a cause of infertility and is associated with diminished gonadotropin secretion, secondary amenorrhea, and galactorrhea.
When a patient is suspected to have hyperprolactinemia not associated with drugs, MR imaging is the foremost and only imaging technique that can depict a pituitary adenoma.

• Most micro-adenomas have lower signal intensity than the normal pituitary gland on T1-weighted images. A convex outline of the pituitary gland or deviation of the pituitary stalk can also be detected.
• Dynamic study with intravenous bolus injection of contrast medium is the preferred technique for assessing micro-adenomas, as it allows excellent delineation between the tumour and the normal pituitary gland. In the dynamic study, the normal pituitary gland and stalk show strong enhancement in the early phase of dynamic imaging, whereas micro-adenomas show relatively weak enhancement.

Patients with macro-adenomas typically present due to mass effect symptoms rather than hormonal excess. The adenoma may extend superiorly and stretch or compress the optic chiasm, compress the infundibulum, or extend laterally into the cavernous sinus. An expanding macro-adenoma may also erode the sella turcica. The extent of the tumour can be determined by means of contrast-enhanced MR imaging. A central constriction or "waist" where the mass narrows to pass through the diaphragma sella produces a “figure 8” sign. "Invasive adenomas" may grow into the sphenoid sinus and invade the cavernous sinus. Necrosis, haemorrhage and cyst formation are common.

Day 19 - If you follow me, please 'CLICK'... 2 days left to make a difference!!!

Support Cushing’s …With A Click.

From Corcept, the makers of Korlym:
They say: “Corcept Therapeutics will donate $5 for every person who clicks to support people with Cushing’s. Corcept has jump-started the effort to build awareness and support with a $15,000 contribution to provide support through the Cushing’s Support and Research Foundation and Cushing’s Help. With your support, we can aim even higher!*

Take part…and spread the word. Click here.

Day 18 - Patients Bill of Rights

Patients bill of rights

Preamble

The Pituitary Network Association (PNA) is an international non-profit organization for patients with pituitary tumors and disorders, their families, loved ones, and the physicians and health care providers who treat them. PNA was founded in 1992 by a group of acromegalic patients in order to communicate and share their experiences and concerns. PNA has rapidly grown to become the world's largest and fastest growing patient advocacy organization devoted to the treatment and cure of pituitary disorders.

PNA is supported by an international network of the world's finest physicians and surgeons. Our goal is to reach every patient who may be forgotten, abandoned, or worse yet, undiagnosed after many years of suffering. We are doing this in three ways: (1) By providing public awareness programs and educational seminars, (2) By assisting the medical community in developing uniform standards for early diagnosis, surgery, radiation, pharmacological treatment and follow-up, and (3) by having interactive Web sites and referral program on these Web sites.

Our Rights

• Pituitary diseases, tumors and the resultant hormonal imbalances shall be recognized as a serious, major public health problem afflicting a large segment of the world's population.
  
  
• The financial and intellectual resources of my government and our public and private health services shall be as fairly allocated to me and my disorder as they are to any other life-threatening and life-altering disease.
  
  
• I have a right to an early and appropriate diagnosis, treatment, care and medical intervention by the experts in these fields of medicine. I have an inalienable right to be told of - and allowed to use, whenever possible, any and all medications and treatment methods past, present or future -which will complete or assist in my healing.
  
  
• Upon completion of any medical evaluation, treatment and care, I am entitled to the emotional and psychological care afforded anyone else with psycho-socially affective disorders.
  
  
• I reaffirm my right to be treated completely so I may reclaim my place in society and my family as a fully functioning and contributing member.
  
  
• I shall not be discriminated against in my workplace or any other part of society because of my physical, mental or emotional state.
  
  
• There shall not be any financial, insurance, job, or promotional stigma attached to my diseases discovery, medical care or emotional recovery. My future life shall only be limited by conditions not under man's ability to rectify.
  
  
• My family and coworkers have a right to be informed and counseled about my illness and Its many manifestations. In order for them to understand and accept the temporary limitation to my job performance and my family obligations, they must if possible, become part of my healing environment.
  
  
• I reaffirm to the world: I am a valuable member of the society and family of man. My life is too valuable to waste. It is too costly to society and too detrimental to my family to allow me to merely exist at their sufferance and largesse.

* I have the right to be believed! Just because a physician has not yet heard of, or seen, my symptoms before, does not mean they are not real and deserving of medical care and further investigation.

Credit:  http://www.pituitary.org/about/patients_bill_of_rights.aspx