Endocrine Abstracts

The insidious onset of symptoms and slow progression of acromegaly often results in a delay in diagnosis for several years. We report an unusual case who presented with progressive lymphoedema of the lower limbs 25 years before the diagnosis of acromegaly became apparent.A 51 year old lady presented to the surgical outpatient clinic with a twenty four year history of bilateral leg swelling and hypertension of 21 years duration. There was no antecedent h...

Introduction: Copeptin is the C-terminal fragment of proAVP and provides an alternative measure of AVP secretion. While direct measurement of AVP during hypertonic saline infusion has been recommended as a diagnostic test for diabetes insipidus (DI), the number of reports examining the utility of copeptin in this context is limited. Here we describe a series of cases where measurement of copeptin during saline infusion has contributed to ...

Introduction: Copeptin is the C-terminal fragment of proAVP and provides an alternative measure of AVP secretion. While direct measurement of AVP during hypertonic saline infusion has been recommended as a diagnostic test for diabetes insipidus (DI), the number of reports examining the utility of copeptin in this context is limited. Here we describe a series of cases where measurement of copeptin during saline infusion has contributed to ...

Gonadotroph pituitary adenomas are common but majority of them are classified as non-functional as they do not lead to features of hormonal excess. Functional gonadotroph adenomas are rare and there are only few small series or individual case reports about these.Case report: 45-year-old gentleman presented with headaches, progressive visual failure and complaint of excessive tiredness. He had normal libido and had an 8-year-old child. On examination, he...

Phaeochromocytomas (PCC) are rare neuroendocrine tumours of chromaffin cells that are characterised by autonomous production of catecholamines. Fundamental to the detection and diagnosis is the biochemical confirmation of excessive catecholamine production by the measurement of plasma or urinary catecholamines and metanephrines. Recently, plasma metanephrines have been shown to provide a high diagnostic sensitivity for the detection of catecholamine secreting tumours and unlik...

Clinical case: An incidental right sided pelvic mass measuring 6 cm×7 cm was found in a 35 year-old nulliparous lady during investigations for secondary infertility. This mass was hard, irregular and white in appearance and biopsy confirmed a carcinoid tumour with a low Ki 67 index of 2.7%. She had no symptoms of flushing, diarrhoea or local discomfort. Endocrine screen showed a non-secretory tumour with normal fasting gut hormones and negative urinary 5H1AAs. Other tumou...

Pituitary apoplexy is a rare but potentially life-threatening condition caused by pituitary infarction or haemorrhage. We have retrospectively analysed 16 patients (10 male, 6 female) with pituitary apoplexy, who presented to our institutions between 1992-2002. The mean age at presentation was 49 years (range 24-72). Only two (12%) patients had previously known pituitary tumours. Pituitary apoplexy was precipitated by major surgery in two patients (coronary artery bypass graft...

INTRODUCTION: Hyperprolactinaemia frequently causes secondary hypogonadism through central suppression of gonadotropin secretion. Macroprolactinomas (>1cm diameter) may additionally cause more generalised hypopituitarism; a recent series finding the prevalence of TSH and ACTH deficiencies to be 35% and 9%, respectively. Recovery of the thyrotropic and/or corticotropic axes is well described following surgery to pituitary tumours, but remains poorly defined in relation to me...

Introduction: In overweight and obesity energy unbalance is responsible for the accumulation of ectopic fat. Excess energy and metabolic alterations, namely insulin resistance, may favor ectopic fat depositions. However, the role played by dietary factors, especially the pro-inflammatory properties of dietary patterns, in ectopic fat storage is not thoroughly understood. The aim of our study was to investigate the association between the Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII) and di...

Background: Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy (PRRT) is effective for gastroenteropancreatic (GEP) neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) and received FDA approval after demonstrating improved progression-free-survival (PFS) in advanced midgut NETs. We investigated a two-decade experience with PRRT, hypothesizing that PRRT confers PFS and overall-survival (OS) advantages in patients who progress after surgery.Methods: A single-institutional NET database was re...