Endocrine Abstracts

The case: The case described is a 49 year old lady referred to emergency department with history of episodic palpitations, headache and sweating with possible weight loss for last 14 years but symptoms now worse in the past few days. Past medical history was significant for modest hypertension with retinal changes treated with Lisinopril. Patient stopped going to the gym recently as it seemed to exacerbate the symptoms. Patient recently registered with a new GP who in view of ...

Graves’ disease (GD) is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism1 and is caused by stimulating autoantibodies to the TSH receptor (TRAb).2 TRAb assays have 98% sensitivity and 99% specificity 3 for GD and are recommended as the first-line cost-effective investigation to diagnosis the aetiology of hyperthyroidism and determine the risk of thyroid eye disease.4,5 In TRAb antibody negative patients, radionuclide imaging may be help...

Pancreatic Neuroendocrine tumours, P-NETs, comprise 2–3% of all pancreatic tumours. Usually classified as functional or non-functional based on whether these secrete biologically active amines, causing specific syndromes or not. Even non-functional P-NETs in majority of cases secrete substances, not associated with any specific syndrome, like Chromogranin A and Chromogranin B and Pancreatic Polypeptide (PP). An estimated 2% of all the neuroendocrine tumours secrete Pancre...

Hyperthyroidism is associated with multiple gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms including vomiting, although this is not very common. We present a case of a 61-year-old female patient, who was admitted under surgeons with persistent and severe vomiting which was very difficult to manage. No acute surgical cause for vomiting was found and the patient was referred for a gastroscopy which was normal. Her past history was significant for Grave’s disease which was in ...

Hyperthyroidism is associated with multiple gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms including vomiting, although this is not very common. We present a case of a 61-year-old female patient, who was admitted under surgeons with persistent and severe vomiting which was very difficult to manage. No acute surgical cause for vomiting was found and the patient was referred for a gastroscopy which was normal. Her past history was significant for Grave’s disease which was in ...

Controversy exists as to the best way to determine which thyroid nodules we should have fine needle aspiration (FNA). The lack of consensus in the British and American Thyroid Association guidelines has not helped to clarify this. The use of ultrasound scan (USS) determined U grading versus a composite of nodule size and pre-determined number of suspicious features continues to be debated. We therefore set out to compare the accuracy of U grading with other identified USS feat...

Hirsutism is an endocrine condition affecting females with growth of unwanted, male-pattern hair secondary to excess androgen activity. The most common cause of hirsutism in females is PCOS (Polycystic ovarian syndrome). Other causes are fairly rare including adrenal and ovarian androgen producing tumours. In 3% of cases no cause of hirsutism is found and these are termed idiopathic1. We describe a unique case of a 22-year-old presenting w...

Hirsutism is an endocrine condition affecting females with growth of unwanted, male-pattern hair secondary to excess androgen activity. The most common cause of hirsutism in females is PCOS (Polycystic ovarian syndrome). Other causes are fairly rare including adrenal and ovarian androgen producing tumours. In 3% of cases no cause of hirsutism is found and these are termed idiopathic1. We describe a unique case of a 22-year-old presenting w...