Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: BTA guidelines-2014 outlined the need for key features to be included in thyroid ultrasound scan (USS) reporting including risk stratification. The aim of this audit was to evaluate the quality of thyroid-USS reporting at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (NHCT); using BTA guidelines as the gold standard.Methods: All thyroid/neck-USS between 1st November to 31st December 2015 were retrieved from radiology records at NHCT. Scans ev...

A 27 year old lady presented in 2016 with a 3 month history of intermittent headache and visual disturbance, 3.5 months post-partum. She had a past medical history of cluster headache; treated with verapamil and short courses of oral steroids (she had no recent steroid courses prior to presentation). She was found to have a partial right sixth nerve palsy but normal visual fields on Goldmann’s testing. She had biochemical evidence of secondary adrenal insufficiency (sodi...

Background: Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) has been implicated in the pathophysiology of respiratory infections, including Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). We assessed vitamin D levels of patients who died from COVID-19 during or following admission to Newcastle-upon-Tyne Hospitals.Methods: We performed a retrospective survey of electronic patient records for 2,355 patients admitted to our institution between 04/02/2020 and 19/01/2021, who had a positive...

A 68-year-old lady presented with a right-sided breast lump detected on routine mammography. Past medical history included type 2 diabetes, asthma, and hypothyroidism following radioactive iodine for toxic multinodular goitre. Staging CT showed 2 presumed metastases in the left lung, and one in the right lung. She was referred for biopsy and/or resection of these lesions. Histology of the left lower lobe lesion showed a typical carcinoid tumour with an adjacent neuroendocrine ...

Background: Prolactinomas are the major subtype (20–30%) of pituitary adenomas. Microprolactinomas (<1 cm) are commoner in females, whereas macroprolactinomas (>1 cm) occur mainly in men. Giant prolactinomas are rare (2–3% of prolactinomas) – features include size of ≥4 cm, with significant extrasellar extension and prolactin levels of >1000 μg/l.Case report: We report the case of a 35-year-old man with type 2 diabet...

Introduction: Unilateral proptosis may be due to thyroid eye disease (TED) or retro-orbital tumours. TED is an autoimmune process affecting orbital and periorbital tissue, and generally occurs in patients with Graves thyrotoxicosis. A small subset of patients with TED (5%) have normal thyroid function, but TED is rarer in hypothyroid patients.Case report: We report the case of a 57-year-old lady who initially presented to ophthalmology with diplopia. She...

A 50 year old lady was referred with a two year history of recurrent spontaneous hypoglycaemic episodes. She had put on a stone in weight over this time period. She was otherwise fit and well and took no regular medications. She had a past medical history of treated melanoma. None of her family members had diabetes mellitus. Neither she nor her husband worked in a healthcare setting but her daughter was a district nurse. Prior to referral, she had a normal short synacthen test...

Phaeochromocytomas are neuroendocrine neoplasms originating from chromaffin cells of the adrenal medulla, causing 0.1–0.2% cases of hypertension. Although rare, phaeochromocytoma is potentially life-threatening, leading to hypertensive crises if unrecognised or mismanaged. Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is a potential complication of thromboembolic disease, usually resulting from ongoing vascular obstruction following pulmonary emboli. We report a c...

Background: The pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is associated with higher fatality in respect of male sex, advancing age, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, climatic factors and, in the UK and North America, with darker-skinned ethnicities; in all of which circumstances vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is more common. 25(OH)D levels reach their nadir at the end of winter and have been associated wit...