Endocrine Abstracts

A 45 year old male was referred in November 2001 to the endocrine clinic with the complaints of sudden onset marked thirst, polyuria with nocturia (six times) for two months. His past medical history includes a diagnosis of solitary sacral plasmacytoma diagnosed in 1998, based on bone marrow aspirate and trephine in the presence of the paraproteinaemia. He was successfully treated with radiotherapy. There has been no history of head injury and has not been on regular medicatio...

BACKGROUND: Hormonal male contraception is based on the reversible suppression of LH and FSH resulting in intratesticular testosterone depletion with subsequent spermatogenic arrest and infertility. Tibolone, a unique synthetic steroid with mixed progestational, androgenic and oestrogenic activities, has been shown to suppress gonadotrophins, inhibit ovulation and postmenopausal hot flushes in women. HYPOTHESIS: We hypothesise that the hybrid anti-gonadotrophic action of Tibol...

A 37 year old Afro-Caribbean woman, with panhypopituitarism secondary to a pituitary macroadenoma was referred from a DGH physician to the neurosurgeons. She complained of headaches and blurred vision. Initial presentation was with malaise, weight loss, vomiting, abdominal pain, and secondary amenorrhoea. She was found to have panhypopituitarism and was on thyroxine and hydrocortisone replacement therapy. Abdominal CT had showed widespread axillary para aortic and iliac lympha...

Index case and aimsA 26 year old woman was referred to our endocrine clinic with infertility and raised testosterone levels. Clinical examination was completely normal, with no hirsuitism or virilizing features. She had normal gonadotropin and SHBG levels, but had elevated testosterone (6.6 nmol/l (0.5–2.8) and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEA-S) levels (13.5 umol/l (1.4–11.1)). To exclude the possibility of interference in our direct assa...

BACKGROUND: DHEA and DHEAS, can be converted into Androstenedione, T and DHT as well as oestrogens by peripheral tissues. In normal men the conversion rate of IV-infused radiolabelled DHEAS to T is only 0.7%. In hypogonadal men, this conversion rate may be increased. We hypothesise that a pharmacological dose of orally administered DHEA may be able to raise plasma T into the normal range in hypogonadal men. METHODS: Local Ethical Committee Approval was obtained. Two groups (n=...

BACKGROUND: Male steroidal contraceptive regimens achieve azoospermia in 60-90% of Caucasians. The mechanisms underlying this heterogeneity in response are not clear. The aim of this retrospective study was to examine a number of polymorphisms in genes involved in androgen metabolism and action, in azoospermic responders (n=73) and oligozoospermic non-responders (n=44) from previous contraceptive trials. METHODS: Local Ethical Committee approval was obtained. DNA was extracted...