Endocrine Abstracts

Cushing’s syndrome (CS) associated with dilated cardiomyopathy without LVH is rare but important to recognise as treatment of CS can lead to total recovery of heart function.A 30-year-old previously fit and well Turkish man presented with chest pain and was diagnosed with NSTEMI and CCF. An MRI of the heart and CT coronary angiogram showed normal coronary arteries but a large right adrenal tumour of 11.5 cm with extension into IVC. The transthoracic...

Background: The need for improved glycaemic control in children with type 1 diabetes in Scotland is well recognised; DIABAUD 3 identified that only 9.7% achieved the national HbA1c target.Aim: To evaluate whether a change from three times daily injection regimen to a basal bolus regimen with carbohydrate counting at diagnosis will result in an improvement in immediate and longer term glycaemic control.Method: We included children &...

Background: Hypercalcaemia is independently associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity/mortality. It is a poor prognostic marker in malignancy. Best practice dictates further investigation of any high calcium values. Recognition of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is important for long term follow-up and management.Aims: Survey of causes of hypercalcaemia in adults (>18 years) from samples sent to one hospital lab over 1 year with particula...

Malaria is commoner amongst pregnant than non-pregnant women in Nigeria and is associated with a significant risk of having a low birth weight (LBW) baby which increases later risk of disease, in particular hypertensive heart disease in this population.We have established a birth cohort in Nigeria and in this study; we aimed to identify possible biomarkers in maternal and/or cord blood related to birth size on the background of malarial status in pregnan...

Short synacthen test (SST) is the most widely used dynamic test of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function. It’s simple to conduct but requires nursing time and is relatively costly given 15-fold price increase in synacthen since 2015. We audited our SST use with the aim of reviewing clinical indications for testing and identifying useful predictors of test outcome. Baseline referral, clinical and biochemical data were retrospectively collected for individuals ...

Parathyroidectomy is the only definitive cure for primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). The standard for pre-operative localisation of parathyroid pathology at our institution is both a (99m)Tc-sestamibi SPECT/CT (sestamibi) and neck ultrasound scan (USS). The aim of this audit was to assess the accuracy of this standard pre-operative imaging.Methods: Retrospective data was gathered from all parathyroidectomies performed at St Thomas’ Hospital between...

Background: Klinefelter syndrome (KS) is the commonest sex chromosomal disorder. Characteristic features include male phenotype with hypogonadism and progressive testicular failure, gynaecomastia and learning difficulties. The association between mediastinal germ cell tumours (GCT-M) and KS is well established, with KS occurring in 20% of GCT-M patients and the reported incidence of GCT-M in KS being 1.5 per 1000 (Nichols, 1991). Genital anomalies are also known to be rarely o...

Background: Increased frequencies of adrenal tumours and testicular adrenal rest tumours (TART) have been reported in congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH).Objective: To investigate the frequency of adrenal abnormalities and TART in an unselected adult population of CAH due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21-OH) and whether adrenal and testicular pathology correlate with disease categories, current hormone levels and treatment.Patient...

Background: Rats on a free-choice (fc) diet of saturated fat and liquid sugar in addition to chow (fcHFHS) overeat persistently, and show increased hypothalamic neuropeptide Y and decreased melanocortin signaling, which reflects a hunger state despite hyperphagia. This response is specific for a fcHFHS diet, because when given the choice between fat and chow (fcHF) or between liquid sugar and chow (fcHS) hyperphagia is not observed. Because leptin signaling is important for th...