Endocrine Abstracts

Annual reports have been provided to the UK Acromegaly Database on 72 patients seen in Aberdeen during the past decade (41 women, mean age at diagnosis 47 yrs, mean GH at diagnosis 59 mU/l and 60% with macroadenomas). Thirty percent had glucose intolerance and 33% hypertension. Fifty-eight percent underwent surgery, 36% external radiotherapy (XRT, either alone or as adjuvant therapy) and 17% primary medical therapy (PMT, 4 had declined surgery). Thirty-seven percent are curren...

Background: In clinical practice, occasional hypothyroid patients require more than the expected dose of levothyroxine. This could be due to compliance issues, excess body weight, drug interference or malabsorption. The Grampian Automated Follow-Up Register (GAFUR) currently monitors around 17 500 hypothyroid patients on levothyroxine; 36 (0.6%) patients take more than 250 μg of levothyroxine daily.Methods: A questionnaire was sent to these patients...

IntroductionAntithyroid drugs are widely used in the therapy of hyperthyroidism. This review (update of Cochrane review: Antithyroid drug regimen for treating Graves' hyperthyroidism. In: The Cochrane Library, Issue 4, 2003; with 4 additional trials) assesses the effects of dose, regimen and duration of antithyroid drug therapy for Graves' hyperthyroidism.MethodsThe Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, MEDLIN...

While iodine deficiency goitre is common worldwide, it is rarely described in the U.K. Vegan diet is the only real way for this deficiency to occur in the U.K. A MEDLINE search from 1966 revealed 1 reported case (Shaikh et al. Transient neonatal hypothyroidism due to a maternal vegan diet; Journal of Pediatric Endocrinology & Metabolism Jan 2003). We have identified 3 cases, which we will describe here.Case 1A 21-year-ol...

Background: Generalised Resistance to Thyroid Hormone (GRTH) is an autosomal dominant condition with impaired tissue responsiveness to thyroid hormones. The majority of patients are asymptomatic and compensate adequately by elevated thyroid hormone production.Index case: A 47-year-old woman was referred to the thyroid clinic in 2000 when routine thyroid function tests (TFT) showed elevated TSH at 4.9 mU/l and fT4 36 pmol/l. A TSH-oma was excluded by norm...

Background: True cyclical Cushing's syndrome is rare and usually due to an ACTH-secreting corticotrophinoma. We describe a man with cyclical Cushing's syndrome of 15 years duration who had unexpected pituitary immunohistopathology.Clinical details: A 22-year-old man presented in 1986 with clinical features of Cushing's syndrome & urinary free cortisols up to 1800 nmol/24h, but normal low-dose DXM suppression, & normal pituitary and adrenals on CT. He was then lost ...

Background: Since receiving its UK licence in 1994, cabergoline [CAB] has become the dopamine agonist of choice for the management of hyperprolactinaemia in most UK endocrine units. Aim: To review the outcomes for the mother and neonate when CAB is taken during conception and into early gestation. Method: Retrospective review of Aberdeen casenotes from all hyperprolactinaemic women of childbearing age on CAB therapy and those of their live born infants. Results: Twenty women w...

Efficacy and Safety of High Dose Testosterone Therapy in Partial Androgen InsensitivityS. Bandyopadhyay, W.A.Watson, C. M.Park, P. Abraham, S. Philip, S. Acharya , J.S. Bevan. Department of Endocrinology, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen, AB25 2ZN.INTRODUCTION: There have been few reports of the efficacy and safety of high dose androgen therapy in men with partial androgen insensitivity (PAI). We report on the responses of a p...

The high survival rate for patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) declines markedly in those with bony metastases. We compare the management of two patients with large dominant pelvic metastases.Case 1 63 year old man with R hip pain. Investigation revealed a 10cm lesion in the R hemi pelvis and subsequent imaging and biopsy revealed a 9th rib lesion and metastatic follicular DTC. He underwent 131 I ablation of the normal thyroi...

Background/methodsPatients with uncontrolled acromegaly or receiving high cost medical therapy despite initial treatment, usually transsphenoidal surgery (TSS), were considered for a ¹¹C-methionine PET-CT scan (11C-Met PET-CT). This imaging technique may identify a target for TSS or radiotherapy when MRI appearances are inconclusive1. In preparation, four patients on long-term SSA were taken off treatment 3 months prior to the scan. ...