Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Primary hyperparathyroidism causes accelerated bone turnover and the consensus is to measure and act upon the 25hydroxyvitamin D level in order to reduce the drive to PTH production, slow down BMD loss, and prevent hungry bone syndrome. How best to replace vitamin D is less clear so we chose to audit our current practice.Method: In 12 months 120 patients with primary hyperparathyroidism were identified retrospectively, 98 of which were vita...

Introduction: It is well-known that prolactinomas sometimes resolve following pregnancy. We wanted to see how often this happens and pregnancy outcome.Patients and methods: From mid 2008 to mid 2013, 66 patients with hyperprolactinemia were studied. 39 had definite microprolactinomas, four probable microprolactinomas, three macroprolactinomas, eight nontumoral hyperprolactinemia and 12 patients were diagnosed elsewhere so no scan results were available. ...

A 20-year-old girl presented to the endocrine clinic with a history of three stone weight gain, and development of numerous purple striae over her lower abdomen, inner thighs and upper arms, gradually progressing over a 12-month period. The onset of symptoms had coincided with the initiation of contraceptive depot medroxyprogesterone acetate, which was discontinued two months prior to her presentation. Her 9 am cortisol was <50 nmol/l.She had a backg...

A 54 year old woman was admitted by her GP to our Medical Admissions Unit earlier this year with a suspected diagnosis of malignancy due to her history of weight loss, lethargy and breathlessness. She was found to be hypercalcaemic with calcium of 3.35 mmol/l. Unfortunately, our acute physicians treated her with pamidronate before her hypercalcaemia was fully investigated which resulted in transient but symptomatic hypocalcaemia (with a nadir calcium of 1.72 mmol/l). A resti...

A 29-year-old woman was admitted at 33 weeks gestation with pre-eclampsia (BP 145/107 mmHg, 3+ proteinuria and significant oedema). On admission her Na was 133 mmol/l and urinary Na 49 mmol/day (ref range 130–260). Twenty-four hours urine protein was 4.43 g/day. Foetal assessment revealed intra uterine growth retardation. She was started on labetolol and the dose titrated upwards to control her blood pressure.Her serum sodium level gradually fell re...

Background: Thyrotoxicosis can be associated with various psychiatric symptoms, such as emotional lability, anxiety, restlessness and rarely frank psychosis. We report such a case.Case report: Forty-seven year old female presented with palpitations, agitation, irritability, itching of her eyes in March 2007. She denied history of tremor or insomnia. No history of drug or alcohol abuse. No personal or family history of depression or any other psychiatric ...

A 76-year-old lady with a background of Crohn’s disease (ileostomy in 1991) was referred to endocrinology in March 2022. Her 9-am cortisol level was <50 nmol/l, with a sodium of 130 mmol/l. These were done as she reported tiredness, lethargy and dizziness since November 2021. She had also lost 7 lb of weight. No evidence of hyperpigmentation. She had then been empirically started on hydrocortisone (10 mg-morning, 5 mg-afternoon and 5 mg-evening) pending evaluation of ...

Objective: Highlight hypertrophic pulmonary osteoarthropathy (HPOA) and partial HPOA as a cause for raised bony alkaline phosphatase (ALP).Case: We report the case of a 59-year-old lady who was referred to the endocrine clinic with 2 years history of bilateral leg pain and raised bony ALP. She denied any other symptoms. She had no past medical history. She was not on any regular medications and she has never smoked. Apart from mild tenderness over both l...

A 60-year-old woman presented to the endocrine clinic with significant hirsutism and male-pattern baldness, progressive since the menopause 5 years earlier. She was otherwise fit and well. Testing revealed an elevated serum testosterone of 14.2 nmol/L. A CT scan revealed a large malignant 19 cm mass arising from the left adnexa, a large fibroid uterus and 2 small masses in the left kidney. Other abdominal organs were normal with no visible ascites. With the presumption of mali...

Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is common in female patients of reproductive age and generally has a good prognosis and so many patients may become pregnant following treatment. Progression of DTC during pregnancy has been reported and may relate to thyroid stimulation by human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Until recently suppression of thyrotropin (TSH) by supraphysiological doses of levothyroxine was indicated for all patients following thyroidectomy and radioiodine abla...