Endocrine Abstracts

Background: Adrenal insufficiency is a common complication of pituitary surgery. We screen for hypoadrenalism with a day 4 morning cortisol. If < 400 nmol/l the patient is prescribed steroid replacement. Patients have a follow up short synacthen test at 6 weeks to assess the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. We wanted to ensure the threshold of 400 nmol/l stopped patients with/or developing hypoadrenalism being discharged without glucocorticoid replacement. We also want...

Background: IgG4-related disease is a rare immune-mediated inflammatory condition associated with extensive multi-organ involvement. Little is known about the epidemiology of pituitary involvement as a part the IgG4-related disease spectrum.Objectives: We aimed to identify patients with pituitary involvement amongst those with systemic IgG4-related disease, and to compare these individuals to patients with isolated ...

Background: IgG4-related disease is a rare immune-mediated inflammatory condition associated with extensive multi-organ involvement. Little is known about the epidemiology of pituitary involvement as a part the IgG4-related disease spectrum.Objectives: We aimed to identify patients with pituitary involvement amongst those with systemic IgG4-related disease, and to compare these individuals to patients with isolated ...

Introduction: Enteroendocrine cells (EECs) are hormone-secreting cells within the intestinal epithelium that play an important role in regulating food absorption, insulin secretion and appetite. To understand the molecular mechanism governing the function of EECs, it is important to investigate cell-type-specific gene expression. The aim of this study was to identify the transcriptome of human EEC populations from organoid culture.Methods: To label the f...

Patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHP) should have assessment of urinary calcium excretion as part of routine work up. This helps in the differential diagnosis of PHP in that urine calcium is low in familial benign hypocalciuric hypercalcaemia. Possible measures of calcium excretion include 24 h urine collection, spot sample for urine for urine calcium concentration and calcium/creatinine ratio (UCa/creat), and fractional excretion of calcium (FrExCa=urine calcium&#21...

This group has previously audited the effect of a protocol for investigation of primary hyperparathyroidism (PHP); the protocol stating that only patients meeting criteria for parathyroidectomy should have parathyroid imaging carried out. This showed a reduction in the number of radiological investigations (USS, CT, MRI and sestamibi scans) done in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism following introduction of this protocol.The aim of this audit was...

Introduction: There is controversy over which form of biochemical testing is best for screening for phaeochromocytoma/paraganglioma (PHAEO/PGL). Measurement of plasma metanephrines is the most sensitive test but is less specific and lacks widespread availability, and so many centres opt to measure 24-h urinary excretion of catecholamines and metanephrines. However, the standard 24-h urinary catecholamine profile also includes dopamine (DA), vanillylmandelic acid (VMA) and homo...

The most common form of endocrine cancer is differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). Outcomes of DTC largely depend on radioiodine treatment, which is mediated the sodium-iodide symporter (NIS). However, many tumours exhibit NIS dysregulation, resulting in a poorer prognosis. Since breast cancer can also overexpress NIS, albeit of limited function, radioiodine treatment may be a promising treatment option. Our previous data show that overexpression of the pituitary tumor-transform...

We have previously reported that exercise at high altitude (HA) led to a significant increase in brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels. In contrast two other publications have reported no change in resting BNP at HA. We therefore measured BNP and Lake Louise (LL) Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) scores in a further 20 subjects at rest in Kathmandu (Kat; 1300 m); and following exercise and at rest at 4270 m and 5150 m. Compared with the baseline BNP level at Kat (9.2+/−2 pg...

The majority of the body’s 5-HT (serotonin) is produced from enterochromaffin cells (ECs) of the intestinal epithelium. 5-HT has important roles within the gastrointestinal tract in the modulation of motility, secretion and inflammation, while also signalling satiety and discomfort to the central nervous system. The factors regulating release of 5-HT from human small intestinal ECs have not been clearly elucidated: although circulating 5-HT levels typically increase after...