Endocrine Abstracts

Approximately 70% of clinical laboratories in the United Kingdom use assays from Abbott Laboratories and Roche Diagnostics. We carried out a cross-sectional study between two neighbouring hospital laboratories in our regional pathology network, comparing the potential impact of Abbott and Roche PTH and calcium assays in the diagnosis of normocalcaemic hyperparathyroidism. Over 4 months, forty-one vitamin D replete (>50 nmol/l) normocalcaemic hyperparathyroidism patients (3...

Background: Recent evidence favours the use of TRAB in patients with hyperthyroidism (a) at presentation to identify the aetiology and predict outcomes (b) at the time of withdrawal of medical therapy to predict remission and (c) during pregnancy. However, If TRAB is not requested at an appropriate time, it may not help, may mislead or add to cost.Aim: To review the current process of requesting TRAB in line with available evidence and identify areas for...

Background and Aim: RAIT has a high success rate in achieving cure of hyperthyroidism but there is unpredictability of thyroid status during the initial post-RAI period, making it difficult to counsel patients or plan medical therapy. We assessed the role of updated TRAB level at the time of RAIT in predicting persistent post-RAI hyperthyroidism.Patients and Methods: We measured TRAB at the time of RAIT (fixed 550MBq dose) in 26 patients with Graves&#146...

Background and Aim: RAIT is successful in achieving cure of thyrotoxicosis. However, 10-15% patients require further doses, usually administered at 4-6 months after the initial dose. We assessed the role of TRAB values in predicting the need for redosing, which could have useful implications.Patients and Methods: We measured TRAB at diagnosis and at the time of 550MBq RAIT in 54 patients with Graves’ disease. We rec...

Objective: To compare FreeStyle Libre Glucose management indicator (GMI) with HbA1c and fructosamine and assess factors related to the difference.Methods: Persons with type 1 diabetes on FreeStyle Libre from a single diabetes centre whose sensor was active >70% of the time were included. Baseline characteristics, latest HbA1c, fructosamine, full blood count, total protein and albumin were collected from medical records. Ambulatory glucose profile dat...

Background: Short Synacthen Test (SST) is widely used to assess hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis in patients on corticosteroids. This requires significant material and human resources especially as patients often require multiple tests. We performed a retrospective cohort study, followed by the implementation of QIP methodology to reduce the number of SST in this cohort of patients.Methodology: We reviewed 167 patients who had a SST and derived ...

Background: The diagnosis of male hypogonadism can be difficult. Free testosterone is calculated if total testosterone is close to the lower limit of normal, however, this is inaccurate in conditions that alter sex-hormone-binding globulin. Alternatively, salivary testosterone is thought to reflect free testosterone, but is present at low concentrations, thus requiring sensitive mass spectrometry instrumentation, and there is limited data on the pre-analytical...

Background: Assays for parathyroid hormone (PTH) are not standardized and therefore method-specific reference intervals are necessary for interpretation of results. PTH increases with age in adults but age-specific reference intervals for the Abbott intact PTH (iPTH) assay are not available. It is challenging and resource intensive to derive age-specific reference intervals by direct method because, depending on number of age partitions, samples from a large n...