Endocrine Abstracts

A 39-year-old rugby league player was admitted with back pain to an Endocrinology/General Medicine ward. He was diagnosed with osteomyelitis of the spine and was treated with antibiotic. During his prolonged in-patient stay (6 weeks i.v. antibiotic treatment), the presence of purple striae on his lower abdomen was noted. Although he did not have other classical features of a Cushing’s syndrome including proximal myopathy, he had an increased BMI (38 kg/m2) and ...

Objective: Arthropathy is the commonest morbidity in acromegaly and the main determinant of quality of life in these patients. Most of current knowledge is derived from studies using conventional x-rays. This study aims to characterise acromegalic arthropathy using modern imaging techniques.Methods: Case control study comprising of 60 acromegaly patients (29 males, mean age 54.8± 12.9yrs) and 300 age/gender-matched controls from the publicly availab...

Introduction: Patients with acromegaly are often left with long-term sequelae, among which arthropathy is the most common. Studies have shown impaired quality of life (QoL) in patients with acromegaly, even after long-term remission. Arthropathy is a negative predictive factor of QoL, due to its impact on physical symptoms and functioning.Patients/Methods: To characterise further the extent of the acromegalic arthop...

Introduction: Patients with acromegaly are often left with long-term sequelae, among which arthropathy is the most common. Studies have shown impaired quality of life (QoL) in patients with acromegaly, even after long-term remission. Arthropathy is a negative predictive factor of QoL, due to its impact on physical symptoms and functioning.Patients/Methods: To characterise further the extent of the acromegalic arthop...

Background: Denosumab is a monoclonal antibody against RANK ligand used for the treatment of osteoporosis. Although clinical trials demonstrate that denosumab is highly effective at reducing fragility fractures in postmenopausal osteoporosis, there have been few studies looking at real world outcomes. Our primary aim was to assess the efficacy of denosumab in practice.Methods: We retrospectively formed a database of 257 patients seen in endocrinology out...

Background: Denosumab, given 6 monthly as a subcutaneous injection, is well established as a treatment for osteoporosis. In the UK it is initiated in secondary care with most patients continuing with injections in primary care. Given concerns with hypocalcaemia and possible adverse effects on fracture risk due to abrupt cessation, robust monitoring in primary care is important. Our study compares two groups of patients on denosumab, one following a well-defined treatment pathw...

It is unclear why GHD is associated with a reduced quality of life. Previous studies of GHD have shown impaired cardiovascular function and an increased cardiovascular mortality. We investigated whether the reduced quality of life is correlated with cardiac function and levels of cardiorespiratory fitness.Eighteen adults (9 male) with severe, untreated, GHD were studied. Cardiac power and cardiorespiratory fitness were investigated using a new, non-invas...

Background: Hyperthyroidism is associated with an increased risk of atherothrombosis and venous thrombotic events by mechanisms that are not fully understood. Previous work has shown that blood clot structure determines the susceptibility to thrombosis and therefore the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of hyperthyroidism on clot structure and fibrinolysis.Methods: Six patients with hyperthyroidism were included in a pilot longitudinal stu...

Introduction: Emerging research in 3D-bone shape has provided new insights into the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA). OA patients have increased subchondral bone area, associated with higher prevalence of cartilage loss. Higher B-score, a novel, machine learning-derived OA bone biomarker, is associated with increased OA symptom severity and structural progression. Arthropathy, despite being the commonest cause of morbidity amongst acromegaly patients, remains one of the und...

Introduction: Patients with acromegaly have increased mortality, primarily related to cardiovascular/cerebrovascular disease. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether GH/IGF-1 excess increases vascular disease by adversely affecting fibrin network characteristics.Methods: In this case–control study, 40 patients with acromegaly (21 males, age 53±13 years, 45% disease remission) and 40 age and gender-matched controls were recruited. Cl...