Endocrine Abstracts

Background and aims: Immediate release somatostatin analogues (SAs) have routinely been administered to test tolerability prior to commencing long-acting SAs, though there is limited evidence to support this process. We aim to examine this practice at our centre.Methods: Patients who received SA therapy for a neuro endocrine tumours (NET) between December 2012 and December 2014 were identified. Records were used to identify; start date, duration of test-...

We report a case of 43 year old gentleman who had surgery in 1998 for left glomus typanicum, leaving him with complete left lower facial nerve palsy. Incidentally he was noted to have had labile blood pressure during this surgery. He had gradual growth of residual tumour which required fractionated radiotherapy in 2012. He has had ongoing problems with headaches with profuse left-sided rhinorrhoea and intermittent episodes of sweating. In...

We report a case of 43 year old gentleman who had surgery in 1998 for left glomus typanicum, leaving him with complete left lower facial nerve palsy. Incidentally he was noted to have had labile blood pressure during this surgery. He had gradual growth of residual tumour which required fractionated radiotherapy in 2012. He has had ongoing problems with headaches with profuse left-sided rhinorrhoea and intermittent episodes of sweating. In...

Introduction: In neuroendocrine tumours (NETs), the urinary concentration of the serotonin metabolite 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid (5-HIAA) is used to monitor disease progression or treatment response. The sensitivity and specificity in the presence of the carcinoid syndrome are approximately 70 and 90%, respectively. Collecting a 24 hour urine specimen is difficult and inconvenient for patients and increases analytical variability. In addition, serotonin-containing foods may i...

Introduction: In patients with neuroendocrine tumours (NETs), the urinary concentration of the serotonin metabolite 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid (5-HIAA) is used to monitor disease progression or response to treatment. The sensitivity and specificity in the presence of the carcinoid syndrome are approximately 70 and 90%, respectively. However, there are problems with the accurate meaurement of a 24-h collection, and this is often inconvenient for patients. In addition, serotoni...

We present the case of a 54-year-old woman with known metastatic non-functional pancreatic NET since 2004 that developed new debilitating recurrent hypoglycemia in 2013. The patient presented in 2004 with disseminated malignancy. Radiology revealed a large pancreatic mass associated with multiple liver lesions and abdominal lymphadenopathy. Liver biopsy confirmed well differentiated NET. Initial treatment with cisplatin etoposide chemotherapy was poorly tolerated and discontin...

We report a retrospective, single centre observational study to determine the characteristics and outcomes of pancreatic insulinoma. Interrogation of the Oxford NET database, a departmental database of new NET MDT referrals since 2011 (n = 1059), revealed 23/1059 (2.1%) patients with insulinoma diagnosed and treated between 2011 and 2018. Patient records were reviewed and data was captured on demographics, presentation, investigations, treatments and outcomes: 15/23 (...

Neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) presenting as metastatic cancer of unknown primary site (CUP) are suspected to confer poorer prognosis compared to metastatic NETs of known primary site. We performed a retrospective, single centre study to determine the prognostic indicators in CUP-NETs compared to metastatic small intestinal NET (SiNET), before and after adjusting for factors known to affect overall survival. Subjects were selected from a departmental database of 1050 NET patien...