Endocrine Abstracts

Case history: An 18-year old lady being investigated for anaemia, was incidentally found to have a 15 cm left adrenal mass. History taking revealed a 6-month history of weight gain, fatigue, and hirsutism. Past medical history was positive for mental illness. There was no learning disability or history of epilepsy. Physical examination was unremarkable.Investigations: Biochemical work-up for a functional adenoma revealed normal serum cortisol and circadi...

Section 1: Case history: A sixty-three-year-old Caucasian male presented with a six-week history of lethargy, emotional lability, polydipsia, polyuria, increased appetite and weight gain. He also reported changes in his facial features and widening of the gaps between his teeth. He has a background of hypertension, obstructive sleep apnoea and benign prostatic hyperplasia. On examination, the patient appeared plethoric, had coarsened facial features, mild prognathism and evide...

Case history: A 26 year-old lady was admitted directly from the endocrine clinic with severe hypertension (BP 180/130 mmHg) and bilateral papilloedema. Six weeks prior to admission she had undergone resection of a 24 cm right upper quadrant lesion that was pre-operatively felt to be of hepatic origin. She was normotensive pre-operatively. Histology confirmed this to be an adrenal phaeochromocytoma with deficient SDH immunostaining. Pre-operative biochemical assessment had not ...

A 21-year-old woman with homozygous sickle cell disease, presented to A&E with vomiting and diarrhoea, and was noted to be hypercalcaemic (corrected calcium 3.00 mmol/l [ref. 2.2–2.6]; phosphate 0.48 mmol/l [ref. 0.8–1.5]). She reported polyuria and polydipsia, but no other symptoms of hypercalcaemia. There was no history of renal stones, renal impairment, or fragility fracture. A maternal aunt required parathyroidectomy in middle age. Bloods revealed PTH 138.4 pmo...

Background: Up to a third of subjects who develop a phaeochromocytoma or a paraganglioma will do so as the result of mutations in one of several familial genes. Identifying a causative mutation may have significant implications for family screening and future disease surveillance.Objective: To review the frequency and type of genetic testing undertaken in subjects presenting to our unit over a 20-year period who have developed a phaeochromocytoma and/or ...

Case history/Investigations/Results and treatment: A previously healthy 36 year old female was admitted to a local intensive care unit with psychosis and intractable hypokalaemia. She had delivered a live preterm baby girl at 33 weeks gestation ten days previously. The hypokalaemia led to an endocrine consultation which revealed onset of symptoms in the third trimester, with no symptoms present pre-conception. Serum cortisol was 2,258 nmol/l with a nadir K+ of 2.2 mmol/l. She ...

Background: Primary hyperparathyroidism is the third most common endocrine condition in pregnancy after thyroid disease and diabetes. Untreated hypercalcaemia due to primary hyperparathyroidism increases the risk of miscarriage, intrauterine death and preterm labour. Pharmacological and surgical limitations in pregnancy often make diagnosing and managing this condition challenging. We report a complex case of hypercalcaemia-induced -psychosis due to primary hyperparathyroidism...

Background: Patients being treated for differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) receive a dose of Radioiodine for remnant ablation. Occasional patients appear to have little or no iodine uptake at all in the thyroid bed or else where even shortly after thyroidectomy.Objective: To evaluate the influence of ‘Coexisting Thyroiditis’ on radioiodine uptake in thyroid cancer ablation doses.Methods and Design: Retrospec...

Background: Patients being treated for differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) receive a dose of Radioiodine for remnant ablation. Occasional patients appear to have little or no iodine uptake at all in the thyroid bed or else where even shortly after thyroidectomy.Objective: To evaluate the influence of ‘Coexisting Thyroiditis’ on radioiodine uptake in thyroid cancer ablation doses.Methods and Design: Retrospec...

Medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) is a rare malignancy which has often metastasised at time of diagnosis. Surgical resection represents the only prospect for cure. However, debulking neck surgery may be beneficial in advanced cases. Prophylactic surgery is increasingly undertaken in asymptomatic patients with known mutations in the RET oncogene. The aim was to describe the outcome following initial surgical treatment for MTC at our institution. We performed a retrospe...