Endocrine Abstracts

Bilateral inferior petrosal sinus sampling (BIPSS) is the gold standard investigation in Cushing’s disease for identifying the pituitary as the ACTH source. This technique aims to demonstrate a gradient of central:peripheral ACTH levels of >2:1 in such patients, or >3:1 after CRH stimulation. In patients without significant pituitary MRI abnormalities this facilitates neurosurgical exploration.The test is limited by difficulties in achieving...

Case: A 73-year-old lady presented with hyponatraemia six days post-transphenoidal surgery for a non functioning pituitary macro-adenoma. Peri-operatively she developed diabetes insipidus requiring short term desmopressin whilst on the neurosurgical ward. At post-operative presentation she complained of weakness, confusion and nausea; sodium 125 mmol/l, serum osmolality 268 mOsmol/kg, urine osmolality 474 mOsmol/kg. Over the next few days she became symptomatically worse and h...

Background: World Gastroenterology Organisation (WGO) quotes gallstones prevalence of 9-21%, incidence of 0.63/100 persons/year in Europe; 10-15% of UK population have gallstones (1). Acromegaly patients’ prevalence is 8.3% and 35% developing incidental gallstones during somatostatin analogue (SSA) treatment (2).Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of gallstones in SSA treated Acromegaly patients in University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL).<p cl...

Background: Radiotherapy is a third line treatment in Acromegaly. Pituitary radiotherapy (RT) is known to have cardiovascular complications (MI/IHD, CCF & CVA) due to radiation effects on normal pituitary and surrounding structures over and above the excess Growth hormone risk on metabolism (1).Objective: To compare RT vs non-RT treated Acromegaly cohorts’ cardiovascular (CV) outcomes in unselected consecutive Acromegaly patients.<p class="a...

Introduction: Glioblastoma, an aggressive intracranial tumour usually is a solitary lesion and not commonly located in the sella turcica. Panhypopituitarism due to multicentric glioblastoma can present with a challenging clinical picture masking or delaying the underlying diagnosis. Case presentation: 58 year old female presented with marked behavioural change, reduced appetite, nausea, polyuria & increased thirst over 4-6 weeks precipitating into an...