Endocrine Abstracts

A 38-year-old lady, who was 9 months post-partum, presented in 2008 with hirsutism, acne and abdominal discomfort. She was virilised and had an easily palpable right upper quadrant mass. Biochemistry revealed mild hypokalaemia (K 3.3 mmol/l), low albumin and gross elevation of serum androgens (androstenedione 93.9 nmol/l, DHAS 37.7 μmol/l and testosterone 13.7 nmol/l). UFC was 380 nmol/24 h but following 1 mg dexamethasone, cortisol suppressed fully. Urine steroi...

Background: Small-bowel neuroendocrine tumours (SB-NET) commonly metastasise despite most being low grade. The NET nomogram developed, estimates 5- and 10-year survival in SB-NET by allocating scores for 15 clinicopathological parameters. We comparatively evaluated the prognostic power of this nomogram, the WHO/ENETS grading and AJCC/UICC staging systems.Methods: Patients with histologically-confirmed SB-NET were identified from databases at two tertiary...

Background: Neuroendocrine tumours of the appendix (ANET) are relatively indolent tumours typically identified incidentally at surgery for suspected appendicitis. The role of right hemicolectomy (RH) for tumours with ‘high risk’ features is debated. We compared the management of ANET at three centres against ENETS criteria for therapy selection.Methods: Retrospective review of all patients diagnosed with ANET at three tertiary centres. Patients...

Background: Surgery is the only curative treatment for gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs), but the prediction of residual disease/recurrence is limited in the absence of optimal biomarkers. We examined whether a blood-based multianalyte neuroendocrine gene transcript assay (NETest) would define tumor cytoreduction and therapeutic efficacy.Methods: The NETest is a polymerase chain reaction–based analysis of 51 genes. Disease acti...