| Journal: | The brazilian journal of infectious diseases |
| Database: | PERIÓDICA |
| System number: | 000290673 |
| ISSN: | 1413-8670 |
| Authors: | Furlanetto, Tania Weber1 Wolff, Fernando Herz Nhuch, Claudio Cadore, Luciana P Glitz, Cristina L Lhullier, Francisco |
| Institutions: | 1Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. Brasil |
| Year: | 2001 |
| Season: | Abr |
| Volumen: | 5 |
| Number: | 2 |
| Pages: | 53-59 |
| Country: | Brasil |
| Language: | Inglés |
| Document type: | Artículo |
| Approach: | Experimental |
| English abstract | Adrenocortical insufficiency is a serious complication of AIDS. Usually, integrity of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in AIDS patients is assessed by measuring basal cortisol levels and cortisol response to 250 mug of ACTH. Recent studies suggest that a lower ACTH dose increases the sensitivity of the procedure. In the present study, we investigated the prevalence of adrenal hypofunction in AIDS patients using a low-dose ACTH test (1 mug), evaluated the clinical characteristics that might suggest this diagnosis, and the diseases and/or drugs that could be associated with it. We prospectively evaluated 63 very ill AIDS patients and 16 normal controls. A standard examination assessed the presence of signs and symptoms of adrenal insufficiency. Blood samples were collected before and 30 and 40 minutes after an injection of 1 mug 1-24 ACTH. No opportunistic disease, signs, symptoms or drugs were associated with an abnormal cortisol response to ACTH. The lowest stimulated cortisol level in the control group was 18.5 mug/dL; cortisol levels > or = 18 mug/dL were taken to indicate a normal HPA axis. Test results revealed that 12/63 AIDS patients (19%) had an abnormal HPA axis. With these data in mind, we suggest a prospective adrenal function evaluation of all severely ill AIDS patients |
| Disciplines: | Medicina |
| Keyword: | Diagnóstico, Endocrinología, Inmunología, SIDA, Adrenal insufficiency, ACTH, Cortisol |
| Keyword: | Medicine, Diagnosis, Endocrinology, AIDS, Adrenal insufficiency, ACTH, Cortisol, Immunology |
| Full text: | Texto completo (Ver HTML) |
