Endocrine Abstracts

In an attempt to audit one aspect of the endocrine nurse's workload, all incoming telephone calls to our office were monitored over a two month period.Details recorded were the call source, the query raised and the time taken by the nurse to respond appropriately. We went on to analyse the information gathered to ascertain areas where improved clinical practice could alleviate the need for further calls.Calls totalled 200 in the ...

Transsphenoidal surgery (TSS) is the most common first-line treatment for Cushing's disease (CD). We have examined the outcome of this intervention to identify pre-operative clinical factors that predict good surgical outcome and to determine the risk of adverse events.We performed a case-notes review of 30 consecutive patients, 20 (67%) female, treated by a single surgeon over a 14-year period. The mean (SE) age was 34.2 (2.1) years and median (range) ...

Due to the infrequency of pituitary apoplexy, there are no robust evidence-based guidelines for optimum care of these patients. The key controversy surrounds the role of acute neurosurgical intervention. Over recent years we have adopted a relatively conservative approach and the aim of this study was to determine whether this 'non-intervention' affected long-term outcome in a recent cohort of patients. 19 patients (8 female) presented between 1994-2001. Mean age at diagnosis ...

The number of patients treated for malignant disease in childhood surviving into adulthood is increasing, but success is tempered by long-term side-effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy; 40% develop one or more endocrinopathy. ALL is a common childhood malignancy treated with chemotherapy and cranial irradiation. The latter causes anterior pituitary hormone deficiencies, most frequently GH deficiency.We have determined GH status in 13 patients treate...

GH deficiency (GHD) in adults shares several clinical features with syndromes of glucocorticoid excess. Many patients with GHD also receive glucocorticoid therapy. GH inhibits the generation of active glucocorticoid by 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1), but the confounding effect of ACTH deficiency/ cortisol replacement therapy has not been evaluated.Aims: To assess corticosteroid exposure and metabolism and body composition in...

A 16-year-old boy was referred to our endocrine unit. He had been diagnosed with constitutional short stature (height <10th centile) aged 11, having not grown well for two years. At that time there were no features to suggest Cushing's syndrome (CS), though he was overweight (BMI 22kg/m2, >90th centile) and bone age was delayed by 2 years. A trial of growth hormone (GH) therapy did not increase growth velocity. By age 15, he was developin...