Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Maintenance of euthyroidism is particularly important during pregnancy. In the early stages of gestation, maternal thyroid hormone is required for foetal neurological development. Some authors suggest presumptively increasing the thyroxine replacement at diagnosis of pregnancy. Recent United Kingdom guidelines recommended that thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and free T4 (fT4) should be measured in hypothyroid women before conception, at diagnosis of pregnancy, at...

Background: As radioiodine therapy is highly effective in curing Graves’ hyperthyroidism and toxic multinodular goitre, the assessment of its efficacy by rendering those patients euthyroid while avoiding the development of permanent hypothyroidism, is important.Aim: To determine the current practice of radioiodine treatment provided at our trust, in line with the recommended guidelines of the Royal College of Physicians and also to compare our succe...

Adrenal incidentalomas (AI) are incidentally discovered adrenal masses on imaging studies requested for reasons unrelated to adrenal pathology with a prevalence of 8% in autopsy and 4% in radiologic series. Although most AI are non-functioning benign adenomas, their increasing prevalence presents diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. We report a case of adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) in an asymptomatic 83-year-old man, 8 years after being diagnosed with AI. ACC is an uncommon...

Thyroid dysfunction is associated with well-recognised maternal and fetal complications. There is an increase in thyroxine requirement during pregnancy by 25–50% hence close monitoring of thyroid function and dose augmentation is vital in attaining euthyroid status. In our combined antenatal-endocrine clinic we aim to test thyroid function tests (TFTs) at booking, in the second and third trimesters. In order to reduce the need for patients to re-attend the clinic purely f...

Introduction: Hypoglycaemia is a common event encountered in patients with type 1 diabetes usually due to an imbalance between diabetic therapy, activity level and dietary intake.Case: We report a case of a 31-year old lady with 20-year history of type 1 diabetes on basal-bolus regimen of insulin, who presented with a 2 month history of secondary amenorrhoea and recurrent disabling hypoglycaemia despite significant reduction in insulin doses. Clinical ex...

Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) occurs in every 23 UK pregnancies. GDM identifies the mother as high-risk for development of type 2 diabetes. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published updated guidance in February 2015 recommending routine follow-up of women with GDM.Aims: This cohort study compared follow-up rates of women with GDM before and after the updated guidance. We also investigated for an association ...

Background and aim: Fixed dose radioiodine therapy (RAI) is considered to be the standard regime for management of hyperthyroidism although the actual RAI activity used varies between different centres. We have undertaken a retrospective comparison between various outcomes achieved following the use of fixed RAI doses of 400 and 550 MBq at two different centres.Patients and methods: An electronic database has been prepared for all patients who receive RA...

Background: Prolactin (PRL) secreting pituitary tumours are the most frequent causes of hyperprolactinaemia in clinical practice.Case: A 78-year old man presented with gradual visual deterioration over two years particularly affecting left eye and getting progressively worse. Formal visual field testing suggested grossly constricted field defect in left eye and superior temporal field defect in right eye. Examination showed no features of acromegaly. Sta...