Endocrine Abstracts

Section 1: Case history: Adrenal haemorrhage in pregnancy is rare but life threatening. We present the case of a 23-year-old woman who developed idiopathic spontaneous bilateral adrenal haemorrhages during pregnancy. The patient, without significant past medical history, presented at 35 weeks of gestation with right sided lower thoracic and abdominal pain which was thought to be musculoskeletal in nature; she was discharged home once the pain settled. She represented at 37 wee...

We report the case of a 37-year-old woman with a 9-month history of intermittent and variable symptoms of anorexia, nausea & vomiting, muscular weakness and pain in association with recurrent hypoglycaemic episodes. The patient stated that she had episodes of myalgia with generalised weakness affecting mobility and a history of significant weight loss as a result of anorexia and nausea & vomiting. The patient had two previous hospital admissions with similar symptoms a...

Cranial Diabetes Insipidus is a rare diagnosis and rarer still postpartum. We present the case of 24-year-old woman who developed CDI following pregnancy. The patient had developed polydipsia and polyuria 5 months following pregnancy. The pregnancy had been complicated by Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and a large Postpartum Haemorrhage. The patient reported feeling fatigued, lightheaded and she stated a need to drink water frequently: ~ 8 litres throughout the day and 4 litres...

We report the case of a 47-year-old woman with a 5-year history of weight gain, resistant hypertension and uncontrolled type 2 diabetes. She complained of oligomenorrhoea, depression and had a strikingly Cushingoid appearance and so underwent evaluation for Cushing’s Disease.Investigations revealed elevated 24-hour urine free cortisol (UFC) collections on 2 occasions: 540 nmols/24h and 624 nmols/24h. Overnight dexamethasone suppression testing (ODST...

We present the case of a 77-year-old woman with a medical history of diabetes mellitus type 2 and hypothyroidism who was admitted to hospital after having had episodes of recurrent symptomatic hypoglycaemia. The patient had diabetes mellitus type 2 for 26 years and this had gone into remission over the previous 2 years: she had been having recurrent hypoglycaemia necessitating reduction in insulin doses and then subsequent discontinuation of therapy altogether. There was a his...

A 71 year old woman presented to neurologist with taste disturbance, tingling and stabbing pains across the face. Examination, blood tests and MRI scan of the brain were normal. Later that year she lost considerable amount of hair, developed severe onycholysis, nausea and loose stools. Weight started to decline and skin became darker. Endocrine referral was made.On examination she had titubation, partial alopecia and severe onycholysis. BP 140/80 mm Hg, ...

Background: Using a deuterated tracer (D4-cortisol) to measure cortisol regeneration from cortisone in vivo we have quantified tissue-specific 11βHSD1 activity in health and disease, and acute regulation eg by insulin. These studies relied on tracer enrichment in the total plasma cortisol pool, assuming rapid equilibration between free and protein-bound pools. Slower equilibration would result in underestimation of enzyme activity, and has implications for the co...

Neurotensin is a 13-amino acid peptide expressed in both the brain and the gastrointestinal tract where it acts as a neuropeptide and gut hormone, respectively. Centrally, neurotensin plays a role in appetite, analgesia and thermoregulation, whereas peripheral neurotensin regulates lipid absorption, gastric emptying and exocrine pancreatic secretion. The role of neurotensin in the control of glucose homeostasis currently remains unclear. We found peripheral administration of n...