Endocrine Abstracts

Subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) is a well reported cause of hypopituitarism but the precise incidence is controversial. We aimed to prospectively determine the incidence of acute and long term hypopituitarism in SAH.We prospectively recruited 100 patients (61% female, median age 53 (range 16–82)) with non-traumatic aneurysmal SAH. Each patient had plasma sodium, urea, osmolality, glucose, and 0900 h cortisol (PC) measured on days 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10...

Hyponatraemia is the most common electrolyte abnormality following subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). Retrospective data suggests that the Syndrome of Inappropriate Antidiuresis (SIAD) is the most common cause, although glucocorticoid deficiency and rarely cerebral salt wasting may also cause hyponatraemia.We prospectively studied 100 patients (61% female, median age 53 (range 16–82)) with non-traumatic aneurysmal SAH. Each patient had plasma sodium (p...

Hyponatraemia is a well-recognised neurosurgical complication, but the incidence and complications are unknown.Objective : We aimed to define the incidence, pathophysiology and effects of significant hyponatraemia following neurosurgical admissions.Methods: All neurosurgical patients with significant hyponatraemia (plasma sodium <130 millimol per litre) between January 2002 and September 2003 were identified from computerised la...

Hyponatraemia occurs in 25-40% of patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) but the pathogenesis is unclear.Objective: We aimed to establish the incidence, pathophysiology and consequences of hyponatraemia following SAH.Methods: A retrospective case note analysis of all patients with radiologically-proven SAH admitted to Beaumont Hospital between Jan 2002 and September 2003. Of 580 patients coded as SAH on HIPE records, 316 were...

Microprolactinomas are considered not to cause pituitary hormone dysfunction, but there is little data available on the prevalence of hormone deficiencies. We aimed to establish the frequency of pituitary hormone dysfunction in patients with hyperprolactinaemia.We examined the casenotes of 124 consecutive patients (85 females) with documented hyperprolactinemia from our pituitary data-base. 52 patients had macroadenomas (tumour > 1cm diameter), 64 mic...

Published data has demonstrated that low 0900 h plasma total cortisol (PTC) immediately following traumatic brain injury (TBI) predicts mortality. However, potential discrepancies exist between PTC and plasma free cortisol (PFC). We hypothesised that low PTC would correlate closely with PFC and predict mortality and long-term hypopituitarism.One hundred patients (84 men, median age 33, range 18–75) with TBI (mean GCS±S.D.=8.59&#1...