Endocrine Abstracts

There is an increasing pressure for nurses to have a recognised qualification in their specialist area to be able to use the title 'specialist' nurse. As there is a historical lack of a recognised qualification in endocrinology for nurses, we audited exactly where nurses gained their specialist knowledge in the first year in post.There were no publications on this topic.86 questionnaires designed to allow the individual to rate the...

Adult growth hormone replacement is currently given by daily sc injections in the vast majority of children and adults treated for growth hormone (GH) deficiency. In recent years, sustained-release preparations of GH have been developed; the preparations available so far maintained therapeutic GH concentrations for approximately 14 days, but were characterised by a dominant early release, which resulted in high supraphysiological early GH peaks, and a rapid decline thereafter....

The hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis can be affected following therapy for brain tumours. Primary thyroid damage is frequent following craniospinal irradiation(CSI). Central hypothyroidism is less commonly reported following cranial irradiation(CI), however, some investigators have argued it is underdiagnosed and may be more prevalent than growth hormone deficiency(GHD). Utilising thyroid function tests(TFT) for the diagnosis of central hypothyroidism is notoriously difficu...

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the extent of change in total body water (TBW) and nature of its relationship with changes in body composition, measured by direct methods, during physiological GH replacement in severely GHD adults.METHODS: Thirty (16 female, age range 17-65 years) severely GHD adults were studied. Patients with diabetes insipidus, cardiovascular or renal disease requiring diuretic therapy were excluded. Patients with other pituitary deficits had ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the quality of life improvement, observed with long-term physiological GH replacement, is correlated with favourable changes in body composition or total body water (TBW) measured by direct methods.METHODS: Thirty (16 female, age range 17-65 years) severely GHD adults were studied. Patients with diabetes insipidus, cardiovascular or renal disease requiring diuretic therapy were excluded. Patients with additional pituitary ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine the characteristics of the QOL impairment observed in GHD survivors of cancer (group 1), and response to GH replacement in comparison with GHD patients with primary pituitary pathology (non-secreting pituitary adenoma or prolactinoma; group 2).METHODS: Patients were considered for GH replacement on the basis of biochemically established severe GHD and subjectively poor QOL noted at interview. QOL was studied at baseline, and at ea...

The most appropriate way to manage growth hormone replacement (GH) in the transition to adulthood in children treated with GH for GH deficiency (GHD) is controversial. The GH Research Society suggest that retesting of GH status at final height (FH) is unnecessary in the presence of 'severe organic GHD' and cranial irradiation falls into this etiological category. This recommendation has never been validated.To investigate whether patients diagnosed in ch...

Background: Re-evaluation of the diagnosis of GHD at the completion of linear growth is a key task.Objectives: To audit the impact of consensus recommendations on diagnosis of GHD and initiation of GH therapy in adolescents previously treated for a brain tumour (BT) or haematological malignancy (HM).Population: Sixty one patients who had received GH therapy until final height following treatment for a BT (n=40) or a HM (n...

The risk of hypertension is 3-fold increased in women with Turner Syndrome (TS). Coarctation is a known cause of secondary hypertension but for others the aetiology of hypertension is unclear. Studies have demonstrated elevated plasma renin activity (PRA) in girls and young women with TS and hypothesized that the aetiology of hypertension is small vessel renovascular disease. To explore this possibility further blood pressure (BP) and PRA were measured routinely at the Adult T...