Endocrine Abstracts

Approximately 70% of clinical laboratories in the United Kingdom use assays from Abbott Laboratories and Roche Diagnostics. We carried out a cross-sectional study between two neighbouring hospital laboratories in our regional pathology network, comparing the potential impact of Abbott and Roche PTH and calcium assays in the diagnosis of normocalcaemic hyperparathyroidism. Over 4 months, forty-one vitamin D replete (>50 nmol/l) normocalcaemic hyperparathyroidism patients (3...

Background and objective: Addison’s disease occurs more frequently in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) as part of the autoimmune polyendocrine syndromes. There is, however, no such association between adrenal failure and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We, therefore, retrospectively audited referrals for short synacthen tests (SST) on patients with T2DM.Methodology: Seven years retrospective study of indications for and results of SST ...

Objective: To compare FreeStyle Libre Glucose management indicator (GMI) with HbA1c and fructosamine and assess factors related to the difference.Methods: Persons with type 1 diabetes on FreeStyle Libre from a single diabetes centre whose sensor was active >70% of the time were included. Baseline characteristics, latest HbA1c, fructosamine, full blood count, total protein and albumin were collected from medical records. Ambulatory glucose profile dat...

Aim: If ‘0’minute salivary cortisol (SALCORT_0) or cortisone (SALCONE_0) can predict normal post-synacthen cortisol response.Method: Baseline salivary sample was collected for 110 patients who had short synacthen test (SST) between 09:00 and 10:00 after hydrocortisone withdrawal for at least 24-hour. SST was labelled ‘pass’ if 30-minute serum cortisol was >450 nmol/l. Serum cortisol was measured by immunoassay whereas salivary cor...

Background: Urinary catecholamine measurement has been the mainstay for diagnosis of a phaeochromocytoma. Plasma metanephrine estimation has been introduced more recently although its precise position remains unclear. We have undertaken a retrospective analysis of patients who have undergone this test to assess its usefulness in the diagnostic process.Patients and methods: We evaluated all patients who have had plasma metanephrine estimation over the pas...

Background: The diagnosis of male hypogonadism can be difficult. Free testosterone is calculated if total testosterone is close to the lower limit of normal, however, this is inaccurate in conditions that alter sex-hormone-binding globulin. Alternatively, salivary testosterone is thought to reflect free testosterone, but is present at low concentrations, thus requiring sensitive mass spectrometry instrumentation, and there is limited data on the pre-analytical...

Background: Assays for parathyroid hormone (PTH) are not standardized and therefore method-specific reference intervals are necessary for interpretation of results. PTH increases with age in adults but age-specific reference intervals for the Abbott intact PTH (iPTH) assay are not available. It is challenging and resource intensive to derive age-specific reference intervals by direct method because, depending on number of age partitions, samples from a large n...