Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Controversy exists over the prevalence of colonic neoplasia in individuals with acromegaly. Some previous studies have demonstrated an increased prevalence of colorectal neoplasia compared to controls, however others have shown no such association. Furthermore, colonoscopy in acromegalic individuals has an increased rate of complications and even death....

BackgroundPrevious studies suggest that patients with acromegaly should have regular colonoscopic examinations due to their increased risk of colorectal neoplasia. However, acromegalic patients have significantly enlarged colon and increased rate of complications due to colonoscopy have been reported.AimTo assess the difficulty of performing colonoscopy in acromegalic patients by comparing large bowel length,...

Background: Measurement of mean serum growth hormone (GH) during an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) is currently used for determination of disease activity in patients with acromegaly post-treatment. In contrast to normal subjects, GH secretion in acromegalic patients is largely non-pulsatile, even after treatment.Aim: To determine if random serum GH correlated with mean serum GH during OGTT in patients with acromegaly post-treatment. Furthermore, we ...

The National Service Framework (NSF) for Diabetes requires that type II diabetes patients are actively involved in their diabetes management. The use of patient-held, integrated care plans is envisaged to encourage patients to actively participate in their diabetes management and to facilitate the flow of information between primary and secondary care. However, the utility of such schemes may be limited by the current level of patient education regarding the data recorded in t...

Background: Yttrium-90 (90Y) pituitary implants have previously been used to treat patients with growth hormone (GH) secreting pituitary adenoma. This study reports the long-term effect of 90Y implants on growth hormone levels and pituitary function in a group of acromegalic patients....

The National Service Framework (NSF) for Diabetes requires that type II diabetes patients are actively involved in their diabetes management. The use of patient-held, integrated care plans is envisaged to encourage patients to actively participate in their diabetes management and to facilitate the flow of information between primary and secondary care. However, the utility of such schemes may be limited by the current level of patient education regarding the data recorded in t...

Adult-onset Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH) is a rare disease characterised by the abnormal proliferation of Langerhans cells, and has a distinct phenotype to that of childhood-onset LCH. Diabetes Insipidus (DI) is a well-recognised manifestation of LCH, caused by infiltration of the hypothalamo-pituitary axis (HPA). Anterior pituitary dysfunction is an uncommon complication of LCH, which has been shown to be associated with DI. However, this association has previously onl...

The rising prevalence of obesity and type II diabetes makes the diagnosis of Cushing’s syndrome increasingly difficult. The dexamethasone-suppressed corticotrophin-releasing hormone (CRH) test, which involves CRH administration immediately following a standard low dose dexamethasone suppression test (LDDST), has been reported to diagnose Cushing’s syndrome with 100% sensitivity and specificity. We adapted our LDDST protocol to include CRH administration post-dexameth...