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In this review, we discuss pituitary adenomas (PA), which account for 10-25% of the intracranial tumours. Despite their benign nature, PA often show invasive growth. Pressure on neighbouring structures may cause hypopituitarism or vision field impairment. For PA, except prolactinomas, surgical treatment is first choice. The primary surgical technique is transsphenoidal surgery. Pituitary function, vision and post-operative magnetic resonance imaging scan is evaluated in a multidisciplinary team of neurosurgeons and endocrinologist 6-8 weeks post-operatively. Follow-up and treatment of pituitary adenomas is highly specialised and requires a team of dedicated endocrinologists and neurosurgeons.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) has a prevalence of 5-10% and is defined as oligomenorrhoea, hyperandrogenaemia and/or polycystic ovaries and the exclusion of other aetiologies for the patient's symptoms. There is currently no agreement on the initial evaluation programme for women referred with PCOS or on how the syndrome should be treated. Women with PCOS have an increased risk of the metabolic syndrome upon diagnosis and increased long-term risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and endometrial cancer. In the present overview, we give recommendations for relevant follow-up examination of patients with PCOS based on a search of the available literature.

The National List of recommendations is a scientific survey of the most used drugs. It separates the drugs into three groups: 1) recommended drugs, 2) drugs only to be used in special circumstances, and 3) drugs which should not be used in normal circumstances because of too limited efficacy or serious adverse reactions. The list is made by specialists chosen by the scientific bodies. The Institute of Rational Pharmacotherapy acts as secretariat. The primary selection criterion is the relationship between effect and adverse reactions, while price issues are not considered. Special consideration has been given to how the effect is expressed, composite measurements of effect and to extrapolation. The list, which is updated annually, is available at the IRF's homepage. The list of recommendations is primarily an instrument for general practitioners and drug committees; in future it should be integrated into the regional drug lists.

This paper discusses the optimal distribution of responsibility between general practitioners (GPs) and hospitals for follow-up of patients with chronic diseases. We investigated a set of risk stratification criteria developed to optimize specialist shared care for patients with diabetes mellitus.We included patients with diabetes from the catchment areas of four diabetes out-patient clinics in southern Denmark. Patients were risk-stratified to 3 follow-up levels (level 1 - follow-up only by their GP, level 2 - intensified follow-up by GP and/or shared care schemes, level 3 - follow-up only in out-patient clinics). The results were subsequently compared with the patients' actual follow-up status.A total of 647 patients (563 type 2 diabetes and 84 type 1 diabetes) were included from 15 GPs. Among these, 139 were stratified to level 1, 409 to level 2 and 99 to level 3. A total of 444 patients were actually being followed by their GP, 129 in shared care and 74 in out-patient clinics. The frequency of out-patient and shared care control varied from 13% to 39% between the four centres.Patients generally had a higher risk profile than anticipated. The model could select high-risk patients to be followed in specialized out-patient clinics. The model was less suitable for patients with low or moderate risk, and it should be modified before its general introduction.