Endocrine Abstracts

Insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-I) is a 70-amino acid peptide hormone which is the principal mediator of the effects of growth hormone (GH). Pituitary GH is secreted in a pulsatile manner and is subjected to various environmental and physiological stimuli. In contrast, IGF-I is synthesised in a more stable manner and has a longer half-life therefore it is a more reliable biomarker of GH status. Hence IGF-I measurements are essential for the diagnosis and treatment of GH defi...

Case history: A 61-year-old gentleman first presented to A&E following a collapse at work. After missing lunch, he became combative towards his colleagues and was found to be hypoglycaemic with capillary blood glucose of 2.5 mmol/l. Symptoms rapidly improved after oral glucose intake. The patient reported similar episodes in the past, usually occurring before meals and mainly if missing or delaying a meal. The patient did not have any past medical history of note, did not ...

Background: The recently published ‘Consensus on Criteria for Cure of Acromegaly’ (Giustina et al. JCEM, 2010) highlighted concerns regarding the quality of currently available insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) immunoassays which may contribute, at least in part, to the discordance between GH and IGF1 that is observed in up to 30% of patients with acromegaly after treatment. The development of mass spectroscopy (MS)-based technology has been proposed ...