Endocrine Abstracts

Hypothyroidism is common condition with a strong female preponderance and a UK prevalence of ~2%. It is normally treated with replacement oral levothyroxine.Morbid obesity is a costly public health issue with a prevalence in England of ~3% with two-thirds of sufferers being female. Weight loss surgery is increasingly employed as a successful and cost effective intervention for super-morbidly obese patients (BMI >40 kg/m2) in accordance wit...

A 46 year old male presented with abdominal pain, lethargy and intermittent fever. He described abdominal fullness with cramp-like pains in the left iliac fossa. He reported early satiety and flatulence, but denied weight loss. He had Addison’s disease, diagnosed 18 years earlier with similar symptoms at presentation and diagnostic short Synacthen test, treated with hydrocortisone 20 mg am and 10 mg pm with 100 mcg fludrocortisone once daily. He had however been increasin...

A 34-year-old lady presented with irregular periods but no galactorrhoea. A prolactin level was 1326 mU/l.Clinical examination-Normal. BMI 26 and visual fields were full to confrontation. MRI scan of pituitary was reported as large pituitary macroadenoma measuring 11× 11× 12 mm denting the optic chiasm. Results of other endocrine tests were as follows; cortisol 265 nmol/l, TSH 0.32 mU/l, FT4 8.5 pmol/l, FSH 4 U/l, LH 1.6 U/l, oestradiol 104 pmol/l, GH 8.4 mU/l, IGF1 ...

A 16-years old boy was referred for endocrine assessment of growth retardation. He had normal growth to age 7 years (tallest in his class) following which he sustained frontal head injury and subsequently exhibited growth retardation. There was no other confounding history. At age 16, height=1.47 m (below 3rd centile; mid-parental height=1.77 m), BMI=21, he was pre-pubertal. Full blood count, biochemistry and chest X-ray were unremarkable. He was 3 years behind in bone age, ha...

Adrenal haemorrhage is comparatively rare. A 64-year-old female presented with acute right sided abdominal and chest pain shortly after a left knee replacement. She had recently started treatment dose low molecular weight heparin for presumed DVT for persistent pain in the left knee. A subsequent Doppler study of left leg was negative for DVT but an abdominal US revealed a solid lesion at the upper pole of the left kidney. CT urography showed large bilateral adrenal masses. No...