Endocrine Abstracts

A 62-year-old lady was referred to our Department with a nine-month history of facial swelling, easy bruising, and centripetal weight gain. She had a longstanding history of depression, hypertension, and osteoarthritis. She was taking citalopram, buspirone, atenolol and bendrofluazide. A few months earlier she had received bilateral intra-articular knee injections at her local hospital for arthritic pain. On examination she had thin skin with multiple bruises, facial puffiness...

Introduction: Metyrapone is used as holding treatment in patients with Cushing’s syndrome awaiting definitive treatment or as adjunctive treatment following pituitary irradiation. The metyrapone day curve is used to assess the adequacy of suppression of cortisol synthesis, and in our institution involves taking four blood cortisol samples at 9 am, 12 pm, 3 pm and 6 pm respectively. A mean result between 200 and 300 nmol/l is deemed satisfactory.Aims...

Ectopic ACTH syndrome (EAS) is characteristically associated with neuroendocrine tumours and small cell carcinomas (SCC) typically of the bronchus. We report a rare case of EAS secondary to gastric adenocarcinoma.A 52-year old man presented to our department with a few week history of proximal myopathy, easy bruising, anxiety and weight loss. He was tanned and hypertensive. Laboratory investigations revealed hypokalaemia (2.3 mmol/l), hyperglycaemia and ...

Bile acids (BAs) are synthesised from cholesterol in the liver and promote lipid digestion. An emerging body of evidence, however, suggests that BAs are also key signaling molecules with potent metabolic and endocrine functions, exerting their effects through activation of BA receptors, including the farnesoid-X- (FXR) and the G-protein-coupled- (TGR5) receptors. Disturbed BA synthesis has been associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus and insulin resistance, and recent studies...

Non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFA) are associated with significant morbidity. Published data on the quality of life (QoL) of NFA patients are scarce and conflicting: some studies indicate a reduced QoL in patients with adequately treated NFAs while others demonstrate that subjective health-related QoL is not compromised to any major extent compared to the general population. Most published studies indicate specific subgroups of patients which are particularly affected, w...

Data on the quality of life (QoL) of patients with non-functioning pituitary adenoma (NFA) are sparse and conflicting. We have therefore evaluated the QoL in patients with NFAs followed-up in a tertiary UK referral centre and explored the impact of various factors. Three validated questionnaires (Short Form 36-SF36, Nottingham Health Profile-NHP and European Quality of Life Scale-EuroQoL) were offered to consecutive NFA subjects attending outpatient clinics over a 6-month peri...