Endocrine Abstracts

Hypocalcaemia following thyroidectomy may be temporary or permanent, usually occurring within 14–72 h. The British Association of Endocrine Surgeons 2009 audit reported long-term hypocalcaemia rates of 7%. Total thyroidectomy for Graves’s disease carries the greatest risk (reported in 6–30% of cases) and currently there is no national consensus on management of this complication.We present three healthy young women who underwent total thyr...

Introduction: Paragangliomas (PGLs) are extra-adrenal, neural crest-derived neuroendocrine tumours. There are sympathetic (usually abdominal and thoracic regions) or parasympathetic PGLs (head and neck). Catecholamine excess usually occurs in sympathetic PGLs.Case: A 34-year-old lady initially presented with left-sided neck swelling. She was diagnosed with left cervical PGL which was excised. Twenty years later, she noticed another lump in the same regio...

Hyponatraemia is associated with adverse outcomes including increased mortality and risk of falls. It is not previously known whether hyponatraemia, on discharge from hospital, is associated with an increased risk of readmission.We conducted a retrospective cohort study identifying all patients admitted to a UK teaching hospital as emergency general medical admissions over a 2-month period. We identified all readmissions within 28 days of discharge and c...

The risk of death with severe hyponatraemia is well known. What is less clear is the mortality risk according to the pattern of the developing hyponatraemia.Methods: From our laboratory database we retrospectively collected data of all adult patients with severe hyponatraemia (<120 mmol/l) over 6 months. Of 49 155 samples, 101 (0.2%) were <120 mmol/l, obtained from n=54 patients. Two paediatric cases were excluded leaving n=52. Norm...

Introduction: 18-hydroxycortisol (18-OHF) is known to be elevated in glucocorticoid remediable aldosteronism but there are few data relating to 18-OHF in the differential diagnosis of primary aldosteronism.Aim: We evaluated the usefulness of lying and standing 18-OHF in patients with primary aldosteronism in differentiating between aldosteronoma, bilateral adrenal hyperplasia (BAH) and normality.Methods: Patients (n=27) with...

Most authorities recognise adult growth hormone deficiency (AGHD) as a distinct endocrine disorder, although determining an appropriate strategy for optimising replacement remains controversial.We reviewed the outcome of a cohort of patients treated with a fixed graded initiation phase followed by an individualised titration phase. Patients were initiated on a starting dose of 0.3 mg recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) for one month, with increases t...