Endocrine Abstracts

Case Presentation A 27 year old male presented with shortness of breath and sweating and on examination had signs of heart failure. An echocardiogram showed global akinesia and an ejection fraction of 15%. He was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy secondary to viral infection and commenced on medical treatment. During a routine cardiology clinic visit he became hypotensive with a systolic BP of 60 mmhg and diaphoretic, his ECG showed sinus rhythm. He was admitted for invest...

Testosterone, androstenedione and DHEAS are commonly measured by immunoassays. Variations in antibody specificity and calibration of assays results in non-commutability of measurements. Even more specific mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) assays still exhibit differences in calibration. As the use of mass spectrometry for measuring steroids is becoming more common in the clinical laboratory, the development of LC–MS/MS reference ranges for these analytes is essential to h...

A 44-year-old gentleman known to have adult polycystic kidney disease with chronic renal failure was found to be profoundly hypothyroid in predialysis assessments in the renal clinic. He was symptomatic feeling tired and generally unwell with multiple problems, which were initially all attributed to his renal failure. Investigations of his thyroid by ultrasound revealed two nodules in the left lobe and one nodule in the right lobe of the thyroid. FNAC failed to differentiate b...

Introduction: Infertility affects 15% of couples worldwide. Male factors account for half of cases seeking medical care.Objectives and methods: To ascertain whether the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) guidelines regarding gonadotrophin induction of spermatogenesis in men with hypogonadism are being followed in our unit. Data were collected retrospectively from clinical records.Results: 26 couples were ident...

Introduction: Testosterone (T) improves muscle strength in hypogondal patients. It is unclear if testosterone has similar effects in frail elderly men with low T. We conducted a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled parallel group study to determine the effects of T on muscle mass and strength, physical function and quality of life in frail elderly men from the general population.Methods: Two hundred and sixty-two prefrail and frail elderly men (cri...

Introduction: Testosterone (T) improves muscle strength in hypogondal men. It is unclear if testosterone has similar effects in prefrail and frail elderly men with low T. We conducted a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled parallel group study to determine the effects of T on muscle mass and strength, physical function and quality of life in prefrail and frail elderly men.Methods: Two hundred and sixty two prefrail and frail elderly men (Fried e...

Introduction: Frailty, a common cause of disability and dependency in the elderly is a multifactorial condition; ageing-associated endocrine dyregulations may play an important role. It is not known if testosterone (T) deficiency contributes to frailty, through its effects on muscle (sarcopenia) and physical function.Objective: To investigate the relationship between T and frailty in elderly men in a cross-sectional observational study in community-dwell...

Background: Testosterone (T) levels decline gradually with increasing age in men. However, age-related decline in several functional domains (e.g. frailty, cognitive deficits, osteoporosis) accelerates in the eighth decade. It is not known if the loss of function in the oldest old is related to a more precipitous fall in T.Objective: To determine if total testosterone (TT) declines more rapidly in men in the eighth compared to those in the sixth and seve...

Ageing is associated with sarcopenia, osteoporosis and an increased risk of falling, which together contribute to increased fracture risk. There are few data describing the associations between functional measures of muscle and bone during ageing. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine in ageing men associations between measures of lower-limb muscle strength and age and then to investigate the relationships with tibial bone outcomes.Men (n</...

Acromegaly is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Surgical excision of the adenoma remains the best option to attain a cure. The results of surgery in the region were unsatisfactory compared to other European centres as was amply borne out in a 1998 review. As the lack of a dedicated pituitary surgical team was considered contributory, one was developed offering Endoscopic, transsphenoidal, pituitary surgery and their results audited.Sixte...