Endocrine Abstracts

Case 1This 26 year woman presented with a pituitary macroadenoma because of headaches, visual field loss and secondary amenorrhoea. Features of acromegaly and galactorrhoea were absent, serum prolactin and basal investigation were normal. Post operative testing revealed normal ACTH reserve but basal growth hormone was 4.2 mu/l rising to 67.6 mu/l in an ITT. Pituitary histology revealed positive immunostaining for growth hormone and prolactin. IGF-1 was n...

Introduction: Krukenberg tumour is an ovarian metastasis of G I tract cancer; Accounting for 1 to 2% of all ovarian tumours. It is usually bilateral and more common in premenopausal compared to menopausal women. Krukenberg tumours are rare but virilizing Krukenberg tumours are even rarer. We report a case of virilizing Krukenberg tumour.A 58-year-old Caucasian lady who was diagnosed with inoperable metastatic gastric adenocarcinoma, ascites and bilateral...

Thyroid lymphoma accounts for <5% of thyroid malignancies. Although it predominantly arises on a background of autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's thyroiditis), the mode of presentation, diagnosis and outcome are not well characterised.We retrospectively analysed 25 patients presenting with thyroid lymphoma between 1996-2002. Patients were predominantly female (84%) with a mean age of 65yrs and presented with a rapidly growing goitre. A previous h...

Wegeners granulomatosis involving the pituitary is rare, only a few cases having been reported. Most cases, diagnosed histologically or by response to treatment affect the posterior pituitary and occur in the presence of systemic vasculitis.A histological diagnosis of Wegeners granulomatosis was made in a 51 yr. old female in 1994 after presentation with upper respiratory tract symptoms and collapse of her nasal septum and bridge. At this time, gonadotr...

Xanthoma Disseminatum: A rare cause of hypopituitarismS Ray and PE Belchetz; The General Infirmary at Leeds, Leeds, UK.Xanthoma disseminatum (XD) is a rare, benign, normo-lipaemic condition characterised by non- Langerhan's cell histiocytosis which usually effects male children or young adults. Patients develop nodular or infiltrating papules that are distributed along flexural areas and mucosal surfaces. Meningeal infiltration ca...

A 45 year old male was referred in November 2001 to the endocrine clinic with the complaints of sudden onset marked thirst, polyuria with nocturia (six times) for two months. His past medical history includes a diagnosis of solitary sacral plasmacytoma diagnosed in 1998, based on bone marrow aspirate and trephine in the presence of the paraproteinaemia. He was successfully treated with radiotherapy. There has been no history of head injury and has not been on regular medicatio...

A 37 year old Afro-Caribbean woman, with panhypopituitarism secondary to a pituitary macroadenoma was referred from a DGH physician to the neurosurgeons. She complained of headaches and blurred vision. Initial presentation was with malaise, weight loss, vomiting, abdominal pain, and secondary amenorrhoea. She was found to have panhypopituitarism and was on thyroxine and hydrocortisone replacement therapy. Abdominal CT had showed widespread axillary para aortic and iliac lympha...

A 22 year old student sought medical attention with a month's complaint of intermittent tingling and spasms in his hands and in the last week more difficulty with phonation. He had previously been fit and active except in his neonatal period. He was a 6 weeks premature 'blue baby' and was transfused 6 times in his first week of life and received anti-D antibodies. He had mild asthma from age 2 but this no longer troubles him. He had been an otherwise fit student playing footba...

PCOS has major long-term health implications that are closely linked to the Metabolic Syndrome. The prevalence of the Metabolic Syndrome is high among migrant and indigenous South Asian populations. We have previously demonstrated that migrant South Asians with PCOS have a greater degree of insulin resistance than white Europeans with PCOS. As there is a paucity of data on PCOS among indigenous South Asian populations, consecutive consenting anovular PCOS subjects (80) and age...

The possibility of optimal testosterone replacement is hotly debated. Conventional testosterone ester injections give widely fluctuating testosterone levels and may be painful. Testosterone patches currently available in the UK frequently cause intolerable skin irritation and are conspicuously large. The only safe oral preparation testosterone undecanoate rarely provides sustained sufficient circulating testosterone concentrations. Testosterone pellets have been used since sho...