Endocrine Abstracts

Many people are now obtaining health information from social media. Misinformation and conflicts of interest are rife on these platforms and can filter into the clinical setting, where patients increasingly attend with unrealistic expectations. The thyroid clinic is a prime example. Misconceptions can sometimes set the agenda and make consultations challenging. Here I will share my clinical experience about how to answer common difficult questions in the thyroid clinic and res...

Over the last two decades, the menopause management pendulum has swung wildly from very few women wanting HRT to so many women wanting it, with the recent increased awareness in the media, that shortages have occurred. Some narratives have resulted in greater fear about menopause and unrealistic expectations about HRT. Conflicting reports have led to much confusion among women. In this talk, I will discuss the implications of menopause today for women in context, including rel...

Over the last two decades, the menopause management pendulum has swung wildly. After the publication of the Women’s health initiative study in 2002, few women were prescribed HRT. With the recent increased awareness in the U.K. media, many women are requesting HRT, to the point that medication shortages have occurred. This overview will summarise the current national recommendations and how we arrived here. The talk will cover the implications of the increased menopause ...

Chronic fatigue presenting in the endocrine clinic is often intangible and difficult to assess. From the patients perspective fatigue is very disruptive to quality of life, exacerbates health related anxiety and can trigger functional symptoms. Patients with symptoms of chronic fatigue frequently have multiple contributory components to their symptoms, including endocrine, behavioural, and other medical factors. Investigation and management approaches will depend on whether th...

A 48-year-old non-smoking female was seen in the chest clinic for cough and breathlessness on a background of asthma type symptoms for 20 years. Her cough was exacerbated by inhalers, productive of yellow sputum and intermittent streaks of blood. On examination, her lungs were clear but coughed continuously with an unusual duration of five minutes. Pulmonary function test showed an obstructive picture. CT scan showed bronchiectasis with multiple small nodules scattered through...

A 42-year-old female had extensive neurological investigations (normal MRI brain, EEG, NCS). A low CSF glucose triggered endocrine referral. She had a history of ill health/fatigue since 19 years when she had a viral illness with seizure-like episode and transient wheelchair dependance, with no formal diagnosis made. She had recurrent symptoms including fatigue, myalgia and weakness, with some relation to hunger and fasting.Physical examination revealed ...

Section: Case history: 73-year old gentleman referred from GP with a two month history of worsening dizziness, malaise, postural hypotension and general deterioration and spiking pyrexia ranging 38-40°C over 3 weeks. PMH of NSCLC T2b N0- left lower lobectomy & chemotherapy 3 years prior.Section: Investigations and treatment: At re-presentation his CT TAP showed bilateral bulky adrenal glands but no other abnormality. The patient’s bloods sh...

Background: The majority of thyroid nodules are clinically insignificant, however considerable overlap in radiological characteristics exists for benign and malignant lesions. Recently, validated radiological criteria using thyroid imaging reporting and data system scoring (TIRADS) have shown correlation between cumulative suspicious features and risk of malignancy1.Objective: To assess sensitivity, specificity and reliability of ultrasound sc...

A 43-year-old woman presented acutely with Graves disease and hyperthyroidism. She had thyroid eye disease and a large diffuse goitre with pressure symptoms. She reported hearing a bruit herself without a stethoscope. She was tachycardic, with capillary nail fold pulsation and a positive Pemberton’s sign. Initial T4 was 78.6, TSH not detected.Betablockers to control the patients tachycardia were contraindicated due to a history of asthma,...

Background: Hyperadrogenemia is one of the most commonly encountered endocrine disorders in reproductive-aged women. By far the most common causes of androgen excess are functional which account for more than 90% of cases. Androgen and ovarian tumours producing excess androgen are however very rare and only account for about 0.2% of cases.Case history: A 62-year-old lady admitted to hospital with pneumonia was found to have an ill defined, firm, non-tend...