Endocrine Abstracts

A 39-year-old male was diagnosed with a growth hormone and prolactin secreting pituitary macroadenoma. He was treated with transphenoidal subtotal resection 2006 and radiotherapy 2007, but despite this he has persistent biochemically active disease as well as partial anterior hypopituitarism.In 2007 he was due to participate in a Somavert trial but whilst being reviewed he admitted to having auditory and visual hallucinations for about 10 years. His visu...

In the UK the expansion of nurses’ autonomy and scope of practice over recent years means that the clinical nurse specialist (CNS) can effectively provide a quality service to endocrine patients. The role of the endocrine CNS in enabling patients to choose the right sex steroid replacement option does not differ much from the Doctor’s role. The CNS does, however, often have more time to provide the necessary education to the patient required to make an informed choic...

In the UK, the number of nurses able to legally prescribe medicines is rapidly increasing. The skills of nurse independent prescribing (NIP) offer an effective way for the Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS) to be more responsive to the changing, and unpredictable, needs of patients by enabling timely and appropriate symptom control in a single, seamless consultation. The structure of the Nurse-led clinic often allows for a longer consultation time enabling the CNS to provide a gr...

Use of 18F-FDG-PET/CT (PET) staging for a variety of malignancies has increased in recent years. A rise in detection of incidental thyroid lesions creates a novel diagnostic challenge. We present four cases of Thyroid PET positivity.A 62-year-old lady with pulmonary adenocarcinoma on contrast CT-Thorax had diffuse thyroid PET uptake. Biochemistry revealed a self-limiting TSH rise. Thyroid ultrasound showed benign nodular goitre (U2). Findin...

Use of 18F-FDG-PET/CT (PET) staging for a variety of malignancies has increased in recent years. A rise in detection of incidental thyroid lesions creates a novel diagnostic challenge. We present four cases of Thyroid PET positivity.A 62-year-old lady with pulmonary adenocarcinoma on contrast CT-Thorax had diffuse thyroid PET uptake. Biochemistry revealed a self-limiting TSH rise. Thyroid ultrasound showed benign nodular goitre (U2). Findin...

The Competency Framework for Adult Endocrine Nursing was launched at the Society for Endocrinology (SfE) BES conference in March 2013 and was made available to Endocrine nurses and Endocrine centres in the UK. It was also made accessible via the SfE website. Questionnaires were sent out 6 months later to audit its use.Results: 80.4% of nurse respondents had heard of the document and 69.6% had read it. 100% of those who had read it found it easy to use an...

The Society for Endocrinology Nurse Committee provides national, international and local guidance, support and networking for nurses working in Endocrinology. Following review and revalidation of the endocrine nurse certificate, the Nurse Committee looked to explicate adult endocrine nurse competencies. The need for core competencies to standardise role expectations was a concern voiced from nurses and committee members. Up to the introduction of paediatric endocrine nurse com...

Acromegaly is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Surgical excision of the adenoma remains the best option to attain a cure. The results of surgery in the region were unsatisfactory compared to other European centres as was amply borne out in a 1998 review. As the lack of a dedicated pituitary surgical team was considered contributory, one was developed offering Endoscopic, transsphenoidal, pituitary surgery and their results audited.Sixte...

Surgery is the treatment of choice for GH secreting tumours. Recent papers suggest, early re-exploration of persistently active tumours may be beneficial. Endocrine assessment, to confirm cure, in the immediate post-operative period is difficult. We aimed to ascertain which test of GH excess performed post-operatively is a reliable predictor of longer term cureMethods: 16 consecutive patients (8 males and 8 females: mean age 46.8±13 years) with acti...

Introduction: Previous studies have shown that PCOS (first described 1935) increases the future risk of hypertension and coronary artery disease.Aims: We investigated in women with PCOS, the link between social disadvantage and markers of cardiometabolic risk and how weight gain over time related to social disadvantage.Methods: In a primary care-based study, 1797 women were identified from patients attending one ...