Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: ACTH is measured to confirm impairments in the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. Patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) can have ectopic adrenocorticotropic secretion. In December 2009, a SCLC patient showed an enormous discrepancy between the ACTH results obtained with two different ACTH assays. The aim of this study was to compare different ACTH assays in SCLC patients.Methods: In a pilot study EDTA plasma samples of nin...

Background: Glucolipotoxicity contributes to declining B-cell function and acceleration of type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Intensive insulin therapy has been shown to rapidly reverse glucolipotoxicity and improve B-cell function, particularly if given soon after diagnosis. Recent trials in adults have shown promise, with 50% in remission at 1 year after intensive insulin therapy.Methods: We report 4 cases of young people with T2DM treated with intravenous insuli...

Introduction: Most paediatric medicines have not undergone extensive clinical trials in children and as a necessity are frequently prescribed off-label, a practice which is recognised to be associated with an increased risk of adverse drug reactions (ADRs).Aims: To assess the use of routinely acquired healthcare data to identify medication utilisation and specifically drug discontinuation, as a signal for possible ADR occurrence in children: using orlist...

Background: Amiodarone is frequently associated with thyroid dysfunction. Identifying predictors for amiodarone-associated thyroid dysfunction and assessing treatment outcome may aid clinicians in daily practice.Patients and methods: In our retrospective study, we included 303 consecutive patients with amiodarone therapy for cardiac arrhythmias (260 with atrial fibrillation and 43 with ventricular arrhythmias). Thyroid function tests were performed every...

Background: Premature pubic hair development, with or without manifestations of androgen production, is a common clinical presentation. Premature adrenarche (PA) needs to be differentially diagnosed from congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) and may be associated with early development of puberty.Aim: To study the characteristics at presentation, endocrine profile and outcome of patients who presented with premature pubic hair development. We studied retr...

Introduction: The Autoimmune Polyendocrinopathy Syndromes (APS) comprise 4 clinical subtypes (1–4), APS type 1 is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by mutations in the AIRE (Autoimmune Regulator) gene. It should include at least 2 of the following 3 major criteria: chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis (CMC), hypoparathyroidism (HPT) and adrenal insufficiency (AI) although 50% of patients develop all 3 features, usually before the age of 20 years. In addition, there are ...

Context: Previous studies have suggested that infections are an important cause of death in patients with Addison’s disease, but epidemiological studies on the frequency of infections in this population are scarce.Design and setting: We conducted a cohort study, using data from the Dutch PHARMO record linkage system, linking patients’ demographics and medical histories to the use of prescription drugs, diagnostic and therapeutic data from hospi...

Background: Patients suffering from polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) are warned for arterial disease. We examined the risk of (non)fatal coronary heart disease (CHD) or stroke between PCOS patients and ovulatory, non-PCOS women. Further we assessed the effect of obesity on this riskMethods: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled observational studies. Four definitions of PCOS were considered: WHO type II anovulation (1976), NI...

Background and aim: Achondroplasia (ACH) is one of the commonest skeletal dysplasias affecting 1:15 000–1:40 000 live births. The average attained adult height is 131±5.6 cm for men and 124±5.9 cm for women. Previous studies have shown that the use of rhGH may result in transient increase in the growth rate, but there have been no long-term data regarding adult height. We aimed to study a cohort of patients with ACH and other skeletal dysplasias who have been tr...