Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is a severe form of hyperlipidaemia resulting in early coronary heart disease (CHD). It has autosomal dominant inheritance with a prevalence of 1 in 500.Aim: Given this prevalence we would expect 1000 cases in our local catchment area of East and North Hertfordshire. Far fewer cases are know about. We tried to find out where potential cases were and assess the management of all cases.<p class="abstext...

Introduction: Hyponatraemia is commonly encountered in clinical practice in the context of multiple pathology and marked morbidity. A study was conducted to examine the quality of clinical assessment, care offered and frequency of specialist opinion sought in hospital in-patients with severe hyponatraemia (<120 mmol/l).Audit standards included assessment of fluid status, measurement of ‘baseline investigations’ (urinary sodium and paired os...

A 30-year-old woman, presented 3 weeks postpartum, with episodes of sweating, dizziness and confusion, which occurred a few hours after eating and also on waking. At consultation she became vacant and lost consciousness. Her capillary blood glucose was found to be 1.2 mmol/l and she promptly responded to intravenous glucose administration. There was a history of several similar, but less severe episodes which required frequent feeding to avoid them. Her liver function and pitu...

Diabetes is a common presentation in children and young people. We describe a case of undiagnosed cystic fibrosis (CF), where diabetes was the presenting diagnosis. A 14 year old girl presented with a 2-month history of weight loss, abdominal pain, polyuria and polydipsia. Blood glucose was 31.4 mmol/l with ketones of 0.8 mmol/l, and a diagnosis of T1DM was made. Initial bloods showed HbA1c 150 mmol/mol, normal thyroid function, negative TTG, and negative TPO, GAD and IA2 anti...

Introduction: Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is a clinical condition often recognized as a result of biochemical screening. While surgery is indicated in symptomatic hypercalcaemic states, the need and timing of surgery in asymptomatic patients is not always clearcut. We conducted a retrospective audit on the diagnosis and management of primary hyperparathyroidism between the years 2010 and 2014.Method: Patients were identified through our histopatho...

Objective: To assess adherence to RCP guidelines on radioiodine (RAI) treatment (1995) and management of thyroid eye disease, and also to look at patterns of thyroid function following RAI treatment.Method: Retrospective case notes review of 78 randomly selected patients from one acute trust. An audit performa was developed, based on the RCP guidelines.Results: The audit demonstrated significant deviations from standards. Communica...

An audit of parathyroidectomies carried out at the East and North Herts Trust between 2010 and 2014 revealed a 25% failure rate following surgery. The audit revealed inappropriate pre-operative workup with regards to biochemistry and/or imaging in 40% of cases. In 2015, a parathyroid MDT was established. The aim of this was to ensure patients had appropriate investigation prior to referral for surgery. A Trust hyperparathyroidism pathway was written based on best practice and ...