Endocrine Abstracts

Pituitary apoplexy is a medical emergency and rapid replacement with hydrocortisone may be lifesaving. Apoplexy is often the first manifestation of an underlying pituitary adenoma. We report a case of apoplexy in a patient with an undiagnosed pituitary adenoma who presented with sudden onset headache and subtle neurology in the form of minor left ptosis. A 64-year-old male with a background of hypertension, asthma-COPD overlap syndrome and bronchiectasis presented to A&E w...

Aim: The British Thyroid Association published guidelines on the management of differentiated thyroid cancer and medullary thyroid cancer in 2007. The aim of our audit was to assess compliance with these guidelines.Methods: Electronic records of patients operated on and followed up in our hospital from January 2009 to December 2013 were reviewed retrospectively.Results: Forty-nine patients fulfilling these criteria were identified....

Case history: A 50-year-old lady presented with blurred vision in her left eye. She was clinically eupituitary. Visual field testing confirmed a bitemporal field deficit. MRI pituitary showed a pituitary macroadenoma occupying part of the sphenoid fossa and causing significant optic chiasmal compression. The lesion was extending across the left carotid loop, with a part of the lesion extending and compressing the medial aspect of the left temporal lobe. She was found to be hyp...

Introduction: Prolonged use of topical corticosteroids causes systemic adverse effects including Cushing’s syndrome and hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis suppression, which is less common than that of the oral or parenteral route.History: A 31-year-old female patient was referred from the dermatology clinic with symptoms and signs consistent with Cushing’s syndrome. She has been treated for psoriasis with a prolonged course of...

Aim: We performed a retrospective analysis to evaluate the surgical treatment of primary hyperparathyroidism in a tertiary referral centre.Methods: We reviewed the case notes of 80 patients who underwent parathyroid surgery (2003 to 2011). Patients were identified from the national BAETS audit.Results: Median age was 56 years (range 25–86). 72.5% of the patients were females and 30% were asymptomatic. Mean adjusted calcium con...

A 51 year old lady presented with a 3 week history of persistent headache, sweating, increase in shoe and ring size and prognathism. Imaging confirmed an 18×19 mm pituitary macroadenoma indenting the optic chiasma. Visual fields were normal.Bloods: IGF1-181 nmol/l (11.3–30.9 nmol/l), prolactin 76 mU/l (102–496 mU/l), LH 22 U/l (2–13 U/l), FSH 46.6 U/l (4–13 U/l), TSH 0.63 mU/l (0.27–4.2 mU/l), FT4- 25.9 pmol/l (12–22 pm...

A 60-year-old man underwent investigations for weight loss and abdominal pain. A CT thorax/abdomen revealed a 2 cm right adrenal nodule, 3 nodules in the left adrenal all <1.4 cm and a 5 mm lung nodule in the right middle lobe. The single phase CT was unable to characterize the adrenal lesions. MRI adrenal showed solid mixed signal pattern in the nodules with signal drop off in opposed phase series consistent with adenomata. Twenty-four hour urine catecholamines, cortisol,...

Transphenoidal surgery is an effective treatment option in patients with pituitary tumours associated with compression of the optic chiasm or hormone hypersecretion. Surgery carries with it a risk of the development of new pituitary hormone deficits but also the potential for recovery of existing pituitary hormone deficits. We have examined data concerning pituitary function in 80 patients who underwent endoscopic transphenoidal pituitary surgery at Royal Preston Hospital....