Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: The short synacthen test (SST) is commonly used to assess the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis in clinical practice. We evaluated the underlying clinical conditions pre-empting the request for a SST in a general medical ward and the adequacy of clinical follow up of patients with suboptimal responses to the test.Methods: All patients with suboptimal SST results (30 min cortisol level 450–540 nmol/l) performed in the Acute Asse...

Background: The insulin stress test (IST) is accepted as the gold standard investigation of the hypothalamio-pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA). The short synacthen test (SST) has been advocated as an alternative to the IST. Fatigue can be a common presenting symptom of patients suffering from abnormalities in the HPA axis.Methods: We audited the results of ISTs following failed SSTs for the assessment of patients who present with symptoms of fatigue. We ...

Background: The insulin stress test (IST) is accepted as the gold standard investigation of the hypothalamio-pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA). The test has been shown to be reliable though potentially unpleasant for the patient and has been associated with complications such as loss of consciousness, seizures, arrythmias, angina, myocardial infarction and death. To this effect close medical supervision is always required when an IST is performed.Methods...