Endocrine Abstracts

Surgical parathyroidectomy remains the most cost effective treatment for primary hyperparathyroidism but where surgery is inappropriate because of significant co-morbidity there is a place for medical therapy. Calcimimetics are type II agonists (requiring calcium for activity) of the calcium sensing receptor (CaSR). The first compound of this class is cinacalcet which reduces PTH by about 50% at 4 h with recovery to within 20% of baseline over the next 8 h. Despite these fluct...

Severe hypercalcaemia poses a real threat of end organ damage mainly to the kidney and the skeleton. While an accurate diagnosis of the cause of the severe hypercalcaemia is important for effective management, initial treatment often has to be instituted before all tests are completed. The kidney is pivotal in this respect since it is the only way in which the body can excrete an unwanted calcium load. Hypercalcaemia impairs renal function by reducing GFR and also by causing n...