Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction and aim: In the UK, 15% of couples are affected by infertility which is due to primary or secondary male factors in 30%. Induction of spermatogenesis with gonadotrophins is a long established endocrine treatment for gonadotrophin deficiency. However, there are concerns that some patient groups have very low success rates. The aim of our audit was to define success of spermatogenesis and fertility rates amongst these men.Methods: We retrospec...

A 55-year-old female presented to the Endocrine Clinic with Graves’ disease which was treated with carbimazole for 18 months. Her initial symptoms were facial sweating and dry lips on background of a multinodular goitre confirmed on thyroid ultrasound. TSH was <0.01 mU/l, free T4 was 42.2, and free T3 18 pmol/l. Thyrotoxicosis recurred in an attempt to taper down the dose of carbimazole and a decision was made to proceed with radioactive iodine t...

Androgen therapy is the mainstay of treatment in female to male (FtM) transgender persons to increase testosterone levels, suppress oestrogens and treat gender dysphoria. Testosterone is widely used for male hypogonadism, but is comparatively under-investigated in FtM transgender persons. The aim of our study was to identify treatment and safety outcomes associated with testosterone use in transgender medicine. A literature search was conducted in PubMed/Medline, as well as EM...

Introduction: Over half of postmenopausal women suffer symptoms which can sometimes be non-responsive to hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Testosterone is implicated in regulating urogenital and sexual function in women. However, using testosterone therapy in postmenopausal women remains highly controversial, principally due to the lack of syndromic relationship between serum testosterone levels and onset of sexual dysfunction during menopause. Clinical practice is therefore ...

Background: Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) affects 1–2% couples, and is defined as ≧3 consecutive pregnancy losses before 20-weeks’ gestation. RPL is caused by foetal chromosomal abnormalities, or maternal factors such as thrombophilia. It was recently reported that men with RPL have high levels of sperm DNA fragmentation (a marker of infertility); however, the cause of this damage is currently not known. Seminal plasma has high levels of granulocyte-derived o...

Background: Recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) affects 1–2% couples, and is defined as ≧3 consecutive pregnancy losses before 20-weeks’ gestation. RPL is caused by foetal chromosomal abnormalities, or maternal factors such as thrombophilia. It was recently reported that men with RPL have high levels of sperm DNA fragmentation (a marker of infertility); however, the cause of this damage is currently not known. Seminal plasma has high levels of granulocyte-derived o...