Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Adrenal Insufficiency (AI) is an inadequate production of cortisol hormone from the adrenal glands. The most common form is secondary AI (suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis), with a prevalence of approximately 300 cases per million. Patients with AI require lifelong corticosteroid replacement, which poses a risk of a life-threatening adrenal crisis (AC) event. AC presents with low blood pressure, hypoglycaemia and even loss of consciousness. Thi...

Case history: A 51-year old female presented to emergency with occipital headache for 5 days on a background of recurrent headaches for over a year. She had been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s disease at the age of 30 and given levothyroxine, which she discontinued 5 years ago due to aversion to take medications. She had noticed cold intolerance and low energy. At presentation her body mass index was 25.26 kg/m2 and the physical exam was unremarkable; specifically,...

There is little evidence of glycaemic control changes in Paediatric patients with diabetes during pandemics or natural disasters. We were interested in analysing and comparing the HbA1c values in children and young people with diabetes at West Hertfordshire NHS trust before the covid-19 pandemic in 2019-2020 and during lockdown in 2020-2021. Our hypothesis was that there would be a deterioration in HbA1c outcomes and a reduction in the number of tests done in 2020-2021. We ass...

A young female with autosomal dominant hypoparathyroidism type 1 who had inherited the gene defect from her mother was under the care of paediatric endocrinologist. Since childhood she was on a large dose of calcium (elemental calcium 5 g) along with Vitamin D, potassium and magnesium replacements. Despite careful monitoring there was significant fluctuations in serum calcium levels which led to recurrent hospital admissions with hypercalcaemia and acute kidney injury or sever...

Background: National Paediatric Diabetes Audit report 2012–2013 showed an increase in the number of patients with HbA1C >80 mmol/l at our paediatric diabetes unit.Aim: Two methods of intensive support for patients with high HbA1C were trialled- monthly clinics and weekly telephone contact.Method: From January to June 2014 we offered monthly ‘Target’ clinic appointments to a cohort of ten patients with high HbA1C....

Neonatal diabetes mellitus (NDM) is a rare form of monogenic diabetes affecting 1 in 100 000 to 500 000 live births.We report the case of a term baby born to a diet controlled gestational diabetic mother with a birth weight of 2.8 kg. Baby was persistently hyperglycaemic from day 1 of life, leading to a diagnosis of neonatal diabetes being considered. She was breast-fed on demand and although insulin pump therapy was discussed, it was felt not to be suit...

Chemical-analytical methods are currently in use as the gold standard approach for the detection of androgens, designer androgens and selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs) in serum and urine samples from athletes as well as in sports supplements. These methods are exquisitely sensitive and selective. However, they have the disadvantage in that the androgens that being surveyed for must have delineated structures. Designer androgens or SARMs that have divergent structu...

Introduction: Neonate of patients with type I diabetes (T1D) are at increased risk for neonatal hypoglycemia. It is hypothesized that this is a result of maternal hyperglycemia and subsequent fetal hyperinsulinemia.Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between clinically significant neonatal hypoglycemia (CS-hypo) and cord-blood c-peptide (CBCP) concentrations in patients with T1D.Materials and methods: This ...

We report the case of a 63-year-old lady with refractory hypocalcaemia due to surgical hypoparathyroidism, decompensated by malabsorption following gastric bypass, successfully treated with recombinant human parathyroid hormone 1-84 (rhPTH), Natpar. She initially presented with medullary thyroid cancer aged 33 and was found to have MEN2A. She underwent thyroidectomy and developed post-surgical hypoparathyroidism. She was managed for over 20 years with alfacalcidol and oral cal...

Case history: PD is a 57-year-old female teacher who presented to her GP in October 2017 with lethargy, dyspnoea and anaemia. Bone marrow biopsy followed by a CT scan of her chest and abdomen confirmed lobular breast cancer with peritoneal and bone metastases (ER+/HER2−). The patient also had an MRI scan of her head to assess for intracranial metastatic disease which was negative at the start of December 2017. She was commenced on letrozole, palbociclib and denosumab. A ...