Endocrine Abstracts

Acute intermittent porphyria (AIP) is an autosomal dominant disease due to deficient Porphobilinogen (PBG) deaminase activity. Hyponatremia, found in approximately 20% of symptomatic AIP, is often due to inappropriate ADH secretion (SIADH). An association between AIP and hyperthyroidism is not clearly established. We describe a patient with AIP and SIADH who presented with Graves’ hyperthyroidism. A 35-year-old lady was admitted with lower abdominal pain. Physical examina...

Case history: A 41-year-old lady had Total Thyroidectomy in 2007 for a large multi-nodular goitre. Post-operatively, she was hypocalcemic with mild inappropriately low Pth levels. She was treated with high dose α-calcidol and calcium supplements but the response was suboptimal. Following introduction of teriparatide, serum calcium has been improving to between 1.90 and 2.06 mmol/l. She continues on high dose α-calcidol.Investigations: Corrected...

Introduction: Dopamine agonists have been routinely used in the treatment of prolactinomas since 1971. Increasingly, cabergoline is used as first-line treatment because of its tolerability and improved patient compliance. CSF rhinorrhoea is a rare but recognised adverse effect of rapid tumour shrinkage following dopamine agonist therapy. We report a case of cabergoline induced CSF rhinorrhoea in a young man with macroprolactinoma.Case: A 26-year-old stud...

Biopharmaceuticals are complex molecules and can show variation between production batches. Physicochemical tests and biological activity measurements contribute complementary data to the characterisation of these products.As part of a project to correlate physicochemical and bioassay data, under the Department of Trade and Industry’s Measurements for Biotechnology programme, we have developed a simple, robust cellbased bioassay protocol for interfe...

A previously well 55 year old man presented to his family practitioner with asix week history of dyspepsia. He denied any other symptoms including no weight loss. Clinical examination was normal.A gastroscopy was organised which revealed a 10 millimetre sessile polyp located at greater curvature at the lower body of the stomach. The polyp was removed by snaring. Histological examination of the polyp revealed heterotopic pancreatic ...

Differentiated thyroid cancers function less well than normal thyroid tissue but continue to secrete thyroglobulin (Tg) which can be iodinated to form thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyroxine (T3). Functioning metastases causing thyrotoxicosis are rare. The majority of reported cases have large volume, metastatic follicular tumours. A significant proportion develop T3 toxicosis with normal T4 levels. T3 toxicosis is often mild....

The ACTH receptor (ACTH-R) is the second member of the melanocortin receptor family that includes five seven-transmembrane G protein-coupled receptors, and has been shown to be predominantly expressed in the adrenal cortex. It has been postulated that ACTH may regulate its own secretion through ultra-short loop feedback within the pituitary, and as ACTH-secreting adenomas are characterised by resistance to glucocorticoid feedback, they may also have dysregulated ACTH feedback....

In severe CHI which is unresponsive to medical therapy, pancreatic resection is undertaken to prevent further hypoglycaemia from dysregulated beta-cell insulin secretion. Traditionally, 95% subtotal pancreatectomy has been the surgery of choice (Lovvorn et al. 1999), with associated risks of post-operative complications such as lifelong diabetes and malabsorption. Since the introduction of 18F-DOPA PET-CT imaging, clinicians have been able to effectively differentia...