Endocrine Abstracts

Aim: Shortage of tetracosactide in the UK has put pressure on clinicians to reduce the number of SST’s ordered. Our aim was to establish if a lower baseline cortisol level from the currently accepted cut-off could predict a positive SST outcome. This would aid our Endocrine Department in rationalising use of tetracosactide.Methods: A retrospective observational study of indications and results of SST’s performed in non-critically ill general me...

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....

We present the case of a 77-year-old lady who had a previous total pharyngo-laryngo-oesophagectomy for laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Her serum calcium had been normal on alfacalcidol and calcium supplementation for six months. She was admitted with dehydration and symptoms of hypercalcaemia on two different occasions, with corrected calcium 3.86 and 4.67 mmol/l. Each time she was treated with intravenous fluids and intravenous disodium pamidronate 60 mg by the admitting t...

A 64-year-old morbidly obese female was admitted with a history of bilateral lower leg ulceration, chronic venous insufficiency and biventricular cardiac failure. There was no relevant family history. She was commenced on furosemide and prophylactic enoxaparin. Biochemical investigations showed persistently elevated serum potassium concentrations (5.7 to 8.2 mmol/L) and low sodium levels (111 to 131 mmol/L). She had not been prescribed non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents, a...