Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Hyperparathyroidism is the most common cause of hypercalcemia. We present another endocrine cause for hypercalcemia.Case report: A 49 year old Afro Caribbean man, previously healthy, was admitted with abdominal pain. He had been complaining of a 2 week history of epigastric pain, loose stools, sweating and shortness of breath. On examination, the patient was unwell, afebrile with epigastric tenderness. Bloods results showed anaemia, Haemogl...

Patients with diabetes are prone to peripheral vascular disease. We present the case of an 81 year old female, current smoker who presented to her general practitioner with a 3 day history of ankle oedema for which she received furosemide. She had a background of right above knee amputation due to peripheral vascular disease and essential thrombocythaemia. Five days after commencing furosemide, she developed increased lethargy and confusion. On arrival to hospital, her venous ...

Introduction: Evidence suggests that ionised calcium (iCa) and not total calcium is the physiologically relevant blood calcium component. Most blood gas (BG) analysers calculate iCa, but this is often ignored. We report our findings from a retrospective audit in medical in-patients and the potential benefit of this underused resource.Methods: A retrospective audit of admissions to two general medical/endocrine wards during January and February 2016. Data...

Aim: Investigation of thyroid nodules usually involves an ultrasound and fine needle aspiration (FNA); however it could still be challenging to devise a management plan based on these. The aim of our study was to compare the reliability of two thyroid FNA’s and ultrasound in comparison to post-operative histology in managing thyroid nodules.Methods: The data on patients who had underwent thyroidectomy and had at least two FNAs and Ultrasound pre-ope...

Introduction: We present a case which highlights the complexities of managing hyperthyroidism.Case report: An 81 year old man complained of irritability, insomnia, diarrhoea, shortness of breath and weight loss. Past medical history includes type II diabetes, atrial fibrillation (AF), hypertension, gallstone pancreatitis requiring cholecystectomy (2005). Clinically, he was in fast AF and right heart failure. On examination he had a tremor; normal sized t...

Aim: Patients with thyroid nodules, usually undergo FNA, prior to considering surgery however the results may not be conclusive. Our aim is to compare the cytology results in patients who have had two FNA’s with post-operative histology.Methods: All patients who have had thyroidectomy and two pre-operative FNA’s over 7 years were identified. Post-operative histology and FNA cytology was collected from pathology records. Standard ‘Thy’...