Endocrine Abstracts

Back ground: Radio iodine treatment is widely used in the management of hyperthyroidism. Recent guidelines have stressed the importance of advising patients of the recommendations with regard to radiation protection, and the implications of radioiodine treatment in relation to work, travel and contact with the family. We carried out a survey to assess our joint radioiodine clinic approach where all patients referred for treatment are assessed jointly by a consultant endocrinol...

Introduction: The short synacthen test (SST) is commonly used to assess the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis in clinical practice. We evaluated the underlying clinical conditions pre-empting the request for a SST in a general medical ward and the adequacy of clinical follow up of patients with suboptimal responses to the test.Methods: All patients with suboptimal SST results (30 min cortisol level 450–540 nmol/l) performed in the Acute Asse...

Background: The insulin stress test (IST) is accepted as the gold standard investigation of the hypothalamio-pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA). The short synacthen test (SST) has been advocated as an alternative to the IST. Fatigue can be a common presenting symptom of patients suffering from abnormalities in the HPA axis.Methods: We audited the results of ISTs following failed SSTs for the assessment of patients who present with symptoms of fatigue. We ...