Endocrine Abstracts

A 61 year-old woman presented with a two year history of facial hirsutism and frontal balding. She did not report voice change or acne. Menarche was at age 14 with regular menses until a hysterectomy (with ovarian preservation) for menorrhagia aged 29. She had a past medical history of T2DM and gastric bypass surgery. She was not on androgenic medication. Examination revealed clinical hyperandrogenism with androgenic alopecia and hirsutism (FG score 20) but no cliteromegaly. T...

Introduction: Diaphoresis, or excessive sweating, is well recognised as a presenting complaint for endocrine disorders such as hyperthyroidism, acromegaly, and phaeochromocytoma. However, diaphoresis is an unusual presenting complaint for Cushing’s syndrome.Case: We present the case of a 35-year-old lady who first presented to health services for symptoms of excessive sweating, and feeling hot most of the time. Whilst initial investigations such as ...

Introduction: Graves’ disease is an autoimmune disorder which may lead to thyroid overactivity and eye disease. Oestrogen and progesterone are thought to be immunomodulatory and have been postulated to play an important role in the difference in prevalence of autoimmune disorders between men and women. Autoimmune disorders, including autoimmune thyroid disease, are often quiescent during pregnancy with an increased prevalence postpartum. The increase in immune mediated th...

Background: Patients with acromegaly require lifetime monitoring due to the excess mortality and morbidity associated with untreated disease, and the propensity for disease relapse following treatment. There is controversy whether GH or insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1), better predicts the onset of cardiovascular complications such as cardiomyopathy and ischaemic heart disease (IHD) in acromegalic patients.Aim: To examine associations of overall GH an...

Background: A cardinal feature of acromegaly is insulin resistance. Patients with acromegaly are therefore predisposed to developing impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). It is therefore imperative to develop better biomarkers predicting the onset of IGT and T2DM in treated acromegalic patients. There is controversy whether GH or insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) better predict the onset of IGT or T2DM in treated acromegalic patients. However ...

Introduction: The treatment of hyperthyroidism is complex. Radio-iodine administration remains the definitive option despite debate regarding optimum dosage and strategy.Method: Thyroid status in all patients receiving first dose radio-iodine over a 5 year period was reviewed at 3, 6, 12 and (most at) 24 months. Radio-iodine doses were individualised depending on thyroid gland size, co-morbidities and patient choice. The objective was euthyroidism with h...

2-Methoxyoestradiol (2-MeOE2) is a human endogenous metabolite of oestradiol which is known to inhibit the proliferation of breast cancer cells. Sulphamoylation of 2-MeOE2 greatly enhances its ability to inhibit breast cancer cell proliferation and induce apoptosis. To establish whether 2-MeOE2 and its mono- and bis-sulphamoylated derivatives would also be an effective treatment for other endocrine cancers, we have investigated their effects, and those of 2-ethyloestradiol (2-...

Background: IVF is an effective treatment for infertility, however it may be complicated by the potentially life-threatening ‘ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome’ (OHSS). OHSS is an iatrogenic condition, resultant on the mode of triggering oocyte maturation. Kisspeptin safely triggers oocyte maturation in women at high risk of OHSS, but has yet to be compared with current triggers of oocyte maturation (hCG or GnRH agonist).Meth...

Background: IVF is an effective treatment for infertility, however it may be complicated by the potentially life-threatening ‘ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome’ (OHSS). OHSS is an iatrogenic condition, resultant on the mode of triggering oocyte maturation. Kisspeptin safely triggers oocyte maturation in women at high risk of OHSS, but has yet to be compared with current triggers of oocyte maturation (hCG or GnRH agonist).Meth...

Background: Adrenal Insufficiency (AI) presents a diagnostic and clinical challenge. While short Synacthen Tests (SSTs) are most commonly utilised to diagnose AI, the value of a baseline cortisol is being explored. We aimed to review indications for performing an SST and to determine the baseline cortisol that predicted a preserved cortisol response to Synacthen.Methods: Eight hundred and sixty SSTs performed in 621 individuals at a tertiary endocrinolog...