Endocrine Abstracts

Case history: A 74 year old female was treated for hyperthyroidism of uncertain aetiology by her general practitioner. Carbimazole had been continued for 15 years - current dose 5 mg daily. Following referral to endocrine outpatients, consideration was given to stopping carbimazole as this treatment was possibly no longer required, although a small risk of relapse was accepted. Prior to stopping carbimazole, Free T4 - 10.5 pmol/l (7.5–21.1), TSH - 0.61 mU/l (0.35–4.7...

Background: Hyponatraemia is the commonest electrolyte abnormality. It carries a mortality rate of above 50% when plasma sodium concentration falls below 115 mmol/L. We present a case of severe hyponatraemia complicating pre-eclampsia in a primiparous woman.Case Report: A 23-year old healthy primigravida was admitted at 34 weeks’ gestation following an episode of reduced foetal movements. She was hypertensive (BP 171/98 m...

Background: Hyponatraemia is the commonest electrolyte abnormality. It carries a mortality rate of above 50% when plasma sodium concentration falls below 115 mmol/L. We present a case of severe hyponatraemia complicating pre-eclampsia in a primiparous woman.Case Report: A 23-year old healthy primigravida was admitted at 34 weeks’ gestation following an episode of reduced foetal movements. She was hypertensive (BP 171/98 m...

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are both associated with the metabolic syndrome and are each associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Endothelial function, an early feature in the development of atherosclerosis, has been shown to be abnormal in both PCOS and NAFLD.The aim of this study was to determine if NAFLD conferred additional cardiovascular risk compared to PCOS alone.<p class="ab...

Background: Obesity is associated with increased insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and increased cardiovascular risk leading to atherosclerosis. Bariatric surgery has been shown to improve some of these factors in obese patients with glucose intolerance. A form of bariatric surgery is the Roux-en-Y procedure which can result in greater weight loss and restriction with less malabsorption than other procedures (such as the bilious-pancreatic diversion); but the effect of some ...

A 73 years old female presented in 2005 with 8 year history of face and body hirsutism. Examination confirmed hirsutism but there were no other masculinization features. Her initial investigations revealed a high testosterone of 13 nmol/l, normal androstenedione, DHEA-S and 17 hydroxy progesterone. CT and U/S of pelvis and abdomen, showed normal adrenals, ovaries and a large calcified uterine fibroid. Urinary steroid metabolites ruled out adrenal testosterone source and exogen...

Patients with GHD have an, adverse body composition, insulin resistance, atherogenic lipid profile and impaired quality of life. We undertook a single centre retrospective audit of hypopituitary adults to quantify the long-term effects of dose-titrated GH replacement.The cohort comprised 53 patients defined as severely GHD using the GST (median peak GH 2.4 μ/l). Mean age 42±16.9 years, 23F, BMI 29.3±5.3 kg/m2. GH was titrated un...

Introduction: Previous studies investigating cardiovascular (CV) risk in obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have been potentially confounded by not adequately accounting for body weight.Objective: To assess if PCOS increases CV risk independently in young obese women by examining carotid intima-media wall thickness (cIMT) and platelet function.Design: A cross-sectional study comparing women with PCOS (n=21) ...