Endocrine Abstracts

A 60 year old pest control worker presented to the dermatologists with a 3-month history of progressive thickening and change in texture of skin lesions affecting the face, lips and eyelids. Histology revealed papular mucinosis/lichen myxoedematosus and he was treated with plasma exchange, high dose steroids and cyclophosphamide. Investigations for associated tiredness, four months following presentation and initiation of therapy revealed impaired GH and cortisol responses to ...

Introduction: haemangiopericytoma is a rare soft tissue tumour originating from pericytes and manifest rarely as hypoglycaemia that can be difficult to treat. We report a case of haemangiopericytoma induced hypoglycaemia treated successfully with radiotherapy.Case report: A 72-year-old lady presented with an episode of confusion. She had had similar episodes usually in the early morning hours. She had had a large bladder haemangiopericytoma removed surgi...

A 24 yr old man complaining of visual disturbances for 7 weeks presented with acute severe headache and bitemporal visual field defects. A high density lesion in the pituitary fossa suggestive of pituitary apoplexy was initially observed on a CT scan but an MRI of the pituitary revealed an irregular structure in the suprasellar cistern and the differential diagnoses of a pituitary adenoma or an aneurysm were proposed. Routine haematological and biochemical investigations were ...

Introduction: The effect of oestrogens on the male skeleton has been demonstrated in a number of studies and oestradiol (E2) plays an important role in regulating bone mineral density (BMD). The concentration of bioavailable oestradiol (BE), rather than total oestradiol (TE), is associated with bone loss in elderly men.Oestradiol circulates in the bloodstream in one of three forms: bound to SHBG; bound to albumin; and unbound/free. The albumin-bound plus the free fraction comp...

Introduction: The beneficial effect of GH replacement on bone in AGHD patients is mediated by improvements in target organ sensitivity to PTH and phosphocalcium metabolism. In aging women with established osteoporosis, GH and IGF-1 concentrations are lower and administration of GH has been shown to increase bone turnover and BMD, but the mechanisms remain unclear.Methods: Fourteen postmenopausal women (63.4±2.1 years; mean BMD T score ± ...

Rhythmic, timed secretion of ghrelin and leptin is integral to the intricate temporal interplay of hormonal signals that maintains energy balance, feeding and body weight. Growth hormone replacement (GHR) in adult growth hormone deficient (AGHD) patients has been shown to alter body composition, energy balance and insulin sensitivity with changes in leptin secretory pattern and concentration. With GHR, single time point ghrelin concentrations have been shown to either increase...

PTH plays an important role in bone metabolism. Active acromegaly is associated with increased bone turnover. Reduction in bone turnover markers occurs following biochemical cure/control of acromegaly. We examined the effect of active acromegaly and its treatment on PTH concentration and PTH target-organ sensitivity.10 patients with active acromegaly (defined as GH nadir greater than 1mU/L following 75g oral glucose load and IGF1 above reference range) a...

Adult Growth Hormone Deficiency (AGHD) is associated with relative phosphate deficiency. Phosphate is an important determinant of serum PTH concentration. PTH target-organ sensitivity is reduced in AGHD and may underlie the pathogenesis of AGHD-related osteopaenia. We examined the effect of phosphate supplementation on change in PTH target-organ sensitivity when given simultaneously with Growth Hormone Replacement (GHR) in AGHD patients.24 AGHD patients ...

Background: Untreated adult growth hormone deficiency (AGHD) is associated with hypertension, obesity and hyperleptinemia. Leptin is linked to obesity related hypertension, is secreted in a circadian rhythm and may contribute to the regulation of BP circadian rhythmicity.Methods: We studied the relationship between plasma leptin (half hourly samples), ambulatory systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) over a 24-h period in ...

Leptin stimulates osteoblastic cell proliferation, differentiation and mineralisation and inhibits osteoclast generation; leptin secretion and bone turnover are altered in adult growth hormone deficiency, a condition associated with osteoporosis. The aim of this study was to investigate leptin circadian rhythm and its association with bone turnover in untreated AGHD and following growth hormone replacement (GHR).We sampled peripheral venous blood at half...