Endocrine Abstracts

Background: For patients on hydrocortisone (HC) steroid therapy, educating families on ‘Steroid Sick Day Rules’ (SSDR) is key in preventing adrenal crises.Aim: To audit education provided to patients and their families in emergency management of known adrenal insufficiency against published standards.Method: A questionnaire assessing information provision and confidence with SSDR was given to 49 caregivers of children on ...

Introduction: Childhood adrenocortical tumours (ACT) are extremely rare (world wide incidence: 0.3/million per year). Most affected are young girls – female:male 2:1, peak age at diagnosis – 3.5 years.Case report: A 2.5-year-old girl presented with a 4-month history of greasy hair, acne, and weight gain especially around face and upper shoulders. She had irritability, daytime lethargy, and night-time sleep disturbance. She later developed pubic...

Introduction: Childhood adrenocortical tumours (ACT) are extremely rare (worldwide incidence: 0.3/million per year). Most affected are young girls – female:male 2:1, peak age at diagnosis −3.5 years.Case report: A 2.5-year-old-girl presented with a 4-month history of greasy hair, acne, weight gain, especially around face and upper shoulders. She had irritability, daytime lethargy and night-time sleep disturbance. She later developed pubic hair...

Introduction: Thyrotroph adenomas are extremely rare accounting for only 0.5–2.8% of paediatric pituitary adenomas. Almost 90% of thyrotropinomas are macroadenomas.Case report: A 9-year-old boy presented with acute onset of a right divergent squint on a background of 6 months of visual disturbance. Opthalmological assessment confirmed reduced visual acuity and visual field defects.MRI revealed a large macroadenoma invading the...

Background: Lipoatrophy (LA) was commonly associated with insulin use prior to the development of purified insulin in the 1970’s, and then has virtually disappeared. In the last few years, however reports of LA among patients using analogue insulin preparations have increased. We report a case series of 4 patients from a tertiary paediatric diabetes unit presenting with LA while on treatment with analogue insulin via a continuous s.c. insulin infusion pump (CSII).<p c...

Background: Children presenting with diabetic keto-acidosis (DKA) as an initial presentation of diabetes mellitus are often unwell, with associated increases in mortality and morbidity. While electrolyte imbalances such as hypokalaemia and hypophosphataemia are well recognised, the incidence of hypercalcaemia is less well documented.Case: A previously healthy 12-year-old boy presented to hospital with a history suggestive of new onset diabetes. Initial b...

Global encephalopathy is a rare complication of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. It typically presents with seizures, ataxia and tremors and responds to steroid therapy. Limbic encephalitis (LE) is even less well described in paediatric population. It presents with medio-temporal lobe symptoms (memory impairment, temporal lobe seizures and disturbances of affect) caused by inflammation within the hippocampus, amygdala, hypothalamus, insular and cingulate cortex. LE most commonly ...