Endocrine Abstracts

A 31-year-old Caucasian male with chronic fatigue syndrome and additional symptoms of abdominal pain and diarrhoea, was referred by his neuro-gastroenterologist for investigation of possible carcinoid tumour after finding a raised 24 h urinary 5HIAA level – 220 μmol/24 h (normal range <50 μmol/24 h).Full blood count, urea and electrolytes, liver function tests, plasma and urinary catecholamines were all within normal range.<p class...

Background: Thyrotoxic crisis is a rare and life threatening condition requiring urgent medical intervention. Intrahepatic cholestasis, hypoglycaemia and pancytopenia are known but uncommon presentations in thyrotoxic crisis.Case presentation: A 71 year old Sri Lankan female with a background history of diabetes presented to a tertiary care centre with severe hypoglycaemic episodes despite being off oral hypoglycaemic agents, weight loss of 6 kg, palpita...

Background and objectivesAround 50% of the population is affected with vitamin D insufficiency worldwide. The increasing prevalence is attributed to change in lifestyle, reduced exposure to sunlight and other environment factors. Vitamin D has multiple actions in the body including calcium homeostasis and has impact on several biologic processes with several clinical implications including obesity, diabetes mellitus, and metabolic syndrome, cancer, cardi...

Background and Objectives: The low vitamin D status in an individual leads to a compensatory increase in serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) level giving rise to secondary hyperparathyroidism. The elevated PTH will conserve calcium excretion from the kidneys in the expense of excreting phosphate. Thus, serum calcium levels tend to remain normal until the latter stages of vitamin D deficiency. PTH action on the bone to reabsorb more calcium from the bone lead to elevation of bone a...

Background and Objectives: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common female reproductive endocrine disorder with a prevalence of 15-20%. Although a majority of patients diagnosed with PCOS are overweight/obese, minority can present with normal body mass index of ≤25 kg/M2 which complicate the effective diagnosis and management. We have studied the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of lean PCOS patients in comparison to obese PCOS patients atten...

Background and Objectives: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder with heterogeneous eatiology. It is characterized by irregular menses and or oligo/anovulation, hyper-androgenism, and polycystic ovaries. The prevalence and diagnosis of PCOS changes depending on which clinical criteria are utilized to confirm the diagnosis. The prevalence can be high as 15%–20% when the Rotterdam criteria are used. However, there is significant inter-individual va...

BackgroundCushing’s syndrome (CS) occurs due to cortisol overproduction. Endogenous hypercortisolemia can be secondary to Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) dependent as well as independent causes (1). Early identification and prompt definitive management is crucial to minimize mortality. Successful management of CS becomes extremely challenging due to multiple associated complications, especially the thrombotic events which are even more prominent ...

Background: Neurofibromatosis 1 (NF-1) is an autosomal-dominant multisystemic neurocutaneous disorder. It has long been appreciated that NF-1 is associated with endocrine conditions. The well reported endocrine conditions in NF-1 are growth hormone deficiency, central precocious puberty, pheochromocytoma and gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumors including insulinoma. Furthermore, individuals with NF-1 are at increased risk of some malignancies including soft tissue sarcomas, ...

Background and Objectives: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the presence of hepatic steatosis in the absence of other causes for secondary hepatic fat accumulation. The incidence and the prevalence of the NAFLD has risen exponentially in the recent past especially in the patients with diabetes. We have studied the prevalence of NAFLD in patients with diabetes attending the diabetes clinic based on the biochemical and ultrasonic criteria, the risk factors for diseas...

Background and Objectives: The prevalence of pre-diabetes and diabetes has risen exponentially in the recent past. Though the symptomatic patients frequently undergo testing for the diagnosis of the disease, asymptomatic individuals are not routinely subjected to diagnostic testing. Thus, data on asymptomatic people are still lacking. We have studied the prevalence of pre-diabetes and diabetes in asymptomatic subjects attending the Endocrinology clinic in a tertiary care insti...