Endocrine Abstracts

Recent statistics indicate that prostate cancer (PC) is the most frequent cancer in men worldwide and is the leading cause of cancer death in men above 50 years of age. The Androgen receptor (AR), a member of the superfamily of nuclear hormone receptors, plays a well-established role in the development and progression of the disease. PC localized to the prostate is commonly treated with surgical removal of the gland and is often associated with a favorable outcome. However, me...

Background: Thyrotoxicosis may be associated with considerable patient morbidity. Graves’ disease (GD) and toxic multinodular goitre (TMNG) are the most common causes of thyrotoxicosis. Therapeutic options include anti-thyroid medication or definitive treatment by radioiodine or surgery. Efficacy, quality of life and cost-effectiveness are among the outcomes that have been compared between these two therapies. However, there is still no clear consensus as to which treatme...

A 22-year-old Caucasian female was referred to thyroid specialist clinic due to difficulties fully suppressing her thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) despite high dose combination therapy of triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4) treatment. She had a well-differentiated thyroid -carcinoma of left thyroid lobe treated with left lobectomy. Several other small primary thyroid carcinoma lesions were detected on further examination of the histology which lead to completion thyroid...

Background: Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in the UK this had led to development of the bowel cancer screening programmes (BCSPs). It is known that ileo-colonic NETs are increasing in incidence in part thought to be related to increased endoscopy. There are few epidemiological data on rectal or ileal NETs diagnosed in BCSPs. This study aims to identify the number of NETs diagnosed through the UK BCSP.Methods: UK bowel cancer colonoscop...

Introduction: Carcinoid heart disease (CHD) develops in patients with small bowel NETs with carcinoid syndrome. Currently NT-proBNP (NTP) is suggested as the best current biomarker to screen for CHD and monitor heart failure. A number of other markers have been investigated for heart failure, however, none of these have been explored in NET patients with CHD or carcinoid syndrome. Galectin-3 (GAL3) promotes fibroblast proliferation and correlates with worse outcomes in heart f...

The SIGN guideline group recently suggested a fracture risk threshold of 10% as an indication for DXA. Patients who do not have a 10 year fracture probability of 10% or more would therefore not meet the criteria for direct access to DXA. In order to assess whether implementing these guidelines would impact overall management, we undertook a prospective audit of our direct access DXA and health promotion service. Charts from 61 consecutive patients were reviewed (54F/7M, Mean a...

Introduction: Inconsistent data exist as to whether menopause is associated with increased cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. However, few studies have evaluated differences in apolipoprotein metabolism according to menopausal status and gender. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of gender and menopause on serum apolipoprotein B (apoB), A-I (apoA-I) and A-II (apoA-II) concentrations.Methods/design: A cross-sectional analysis was underta...

Introduction: Adrenal vascular cysts are rare, in most cases incidentally discovered during abdominal imaging for other reasons. We present a case of adrenal endovascular cyst with initial suspicious features of adrenal malignancy and subsequent management and complications.Case report: This 72-year-old male was initially admitted with a weight loss over 2 months and new onset fever and rigors and right leg pain. He was noted to have an abdominal mass. H...

Introduction: Hypophysitis is a rare entity, more common in women in pregnancy and the postpartum period and can cause various symptoms such as headache, hypopituitarism and visual disturbances. Stalk thickening and homogeneous enhancement of the gland are the characteristic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings. The diagnosis is based on the clinical picture and on follow up MRIs. Usually involves the anterior pituitary alone, whereas isolated-posterior-pituitary-involvem...

Introduction: Bone densitometry is currently one of the mainstays in the evaluation of systemic bone diseases. The most frequently assessed densitometric parameter is areal bone mineral density (BMD), measured by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) and expressed as g/cm2. However BMD is a bone size-dependent measure and may be found inappropriately low in children and adults with short stature. Osteopenia/osteoporosis have been described in patients with short s...