Pituitary And Thyroid Diseases

Within endocrinology, metabolism, and the diabetes diseases, gender differences with regard to disease incidences, clinical signs and symptoms, treatments, follow-ups, and prognoses are small, moderate, or absent. Thus, the incidence of adrenocorticotropic hormone-producing pituitary tumors is approximately three times higher in women, while the incidence of growth hormone-producing pituitary tumors is equal between the sexes: two men and two women per million individuals are diagnosed per year. Female gender is a well-recognized risk factor for thyroid disorders all over the world. Adequate evaluation of whether male or female tissues are affected by testosterone or estrogen is notably difficult. Testosterone, once inside the cell in the body, can be processed by 5-alpha reductase type 1 or 2 to dehydrotestosterone, which is the physiological ligand to the androgen receptor. However, testosterone can equally well within the cell be oxidized to estradiol and become a ligand to the estrogen receptor-alpha or estrogen receptor-beta. Research and clinical care of patients are based on findings outside the cell and we suppose/propose estrogenic and androgenic effects, but only the physician inside the cell knows. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel