Endocrine Abstracts

Overall survival following childhood cancer is 70% and for some conditions in excess of 90%. This success has come at a cost; 60–70% of patients have one or more on-going medical problem. The most frequent conditions encountered are endocrine in nature, ranging from hypothyroidism to panhypopituitarism. In addition, the prevalence of other medical problems is also increased including heart failure and second malignancy. Consequently this cohort of patients require life-lo...

The most effective means of treating macroprolactinomas, including those associated with significant visual loss at presentation, is with dopamine agonist (DA) therapy. Improvement in visual function often occurs within days of commencing DA therapy, and usually precedes significant reductions in prolactin (PRL) concentrations and may predate significant evidence of tumour volume reduction by months or years. The temporal association between PRL concentration reductions and tu...

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia is the commonest malignancy to occur during childhood. Treatment protocols included prophylactic cranial radiotherapy at doses of 18-24Gy. Radiation to the hypothalamic-pituitary axis causes hypopituitarism, the severity of which depends upon the dose and time from treatment. Adults who received 24Gy up to 25 years ago have been shown to be GH deficient, those who received 18Gy were not. Other pituitary function was reported be normal. The purpose...

Survival following treatment for childhood malignancy has improved considerably over the last 40 years. Complications of treatment are frequent and although the long-term follow-up of patients is recommended, only 35% of patients are seen regularly. Endocrine complications of cancer therapy, including thyroid dysfunction, are well recognised. The aim of this study is to determine the frequency of hypothyroidism amongst the patients within the Bristish Childhood Cancer Survivor...

Contemporary management of macroprolactinomas relies heavily on the use of dopamine agonist (DA) therapy. However, historically a proportion of patients may have undergone surgery and/or pituitary radiotherapy. We aimed to determine the long-term outcome in terms of tumour control and prolactin normalisation in a large cohort of patients with macroprolactinoma who received various treatment modalities. 80 patients (54 male) with macroprolactinoma (tumour diameter >10 mm, p...

The optimum management of patients with craniopharyngiomas is controversial. Evidence relies on a small number of retrospective outcome surveys that encompass time periods that are not necessarily representative of current surgical techniques and imaging modalities. We have reviewed outcome in a more contemporary group of patients managed at a single centre.Case-notes and electronic data were reviewed of all patients treated for craniopharyngioma since 1...

GH deficiency (GHD) in adults shares several clinical features with syndromes of glucocorticoid excess. Many patients with GHD also receive glucocorticoid therapy. GH inhibits the generation of active glucocorticoid by 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1), but the confounding effect of ACTH deficiency/ cortisol replacement therapy has not been evaluated.Aims: To assess corticosteroid exposure and metabolism and body composition in...