Endocrine Abstracts

Case: We report a 79-year-old female who was referred to our Endocrine Bone Unit with osteoporosis, which was initially treated with Alendronate (but poorly tolerated due to dyspepsia) followed by annual Zoledronate infusions. Her bone history was significant for a proximal humeral fragility fracture 30-years previously. She was an ex-smoker, had limited dietary calcium intake, and had a brother with osteoporosis. DEXA demonstrated T scores at lumbar spine -1.8, total hip -2.0...

A 35 year old lady presented with a one week history of back pain, myalgia, fatigue, epigastric pain, and persistent vomiting. She reported a four week history of reduced appetite and 4 kg weight loss. She had recently recovered from an uncomplicated COVID-19 infection. Past medical history included a previous eating disorder (anorexia and bulimia), and subsequent chronic gastritis. Drug history included Omeprazole 20 mg daily, Laxido 2 sachets daily and antacids (Rennies 4-8 ...

A 27-year old Caucasian woman was referred to the Endocrine Bone Clinic after investigations for general malaise revealed hypercalaemia and elevated parathyroid hormone levels. She had no history of constipation, abdominal pain, bone pain, or other related symptoms. She had no history of renal stones or fractures and no change in weight. Her past medical history included asthma and she took a salbutamol inhaler as required. She had no family history of endocrine pathology. Gen...

A 33 year-old man was referred to the endocrine bone clinic following presentation with a 4 mm kidney stone and hypercalcaemia. Apart from mild fatigue, he had no other hypercalcaemic or concerning symptoms. He was not on any medications or supplements. He had a positive family history for kidney stones and reported that his grandmother had been noted to have hypercalcaemia in the past. There was significant consanguinity in his family. Examination was entirely normal while bl...

Turner syndrome is a common chromosomal disorder affecting 1 in 2500 life female births. Turner syndrome is associated with congenital cardiovascular malformations of the aortic arch, systemic and pulmonary venous return with reported incidences ranging from 23 to 45%. These vascular malformations cause significant morbidity and mortality with increased incidence of aortic pathology, right heart strain and pulmonary hypertension as a result. In this investigation we retrospect...

Case History: In 2011, an asymptomatic 63-year-old professor was found to have isolated hypokalemia. He was normotensive and his only past medical history was hypercholesterolaemia. Investigations were suggestive of Primary Hyperaldosteronism (PHA): aldosterone 1055 pmol/L, renin mass 10 mU/L, Na+137 mmol/L, K+3.2 mmol/L, bicarbonate 31 mmol/L. A CT scan was reported as normal, but a 12mm nodule was subsequently noted contiguous with the left adrenal. A m...

Background: Patients with adrenal insufficiency suffer from increased morbidity and mortality. Quantitative evidence on the health-care burden of either primary (PAI) or secondary adrenal insufficiency (SAI) among hospitalized medical patients is scarce.Methods: In this observational cohort study, we analysed nationwide acute care hospitalizations from patients with PAI or SAI, respectively, between 2011 and 2015 using prospective administrative data. Pa...

Background: Glucose variability (GV) is common among hospitalized patients but the prognostic implications among patients hospitalized to surgical wards are unknown.Objective: Investigate the association between GV, length of stay (LOS) and mortality.Methods: Historical prospectively collected data of patients ≥18 years, hospitalized to general surgery wards between January 2011–December 2017. GV was assessed by coeffici...

Background: Paraganglioma is a rare neuroendocrine tumor from extra-adrenal chromaffin cells of the sympathetic paravertebral ganglia of thorax, abdomen, and pelvis. About 15–20% of chromaffin-cell tumors are paragangliomas. In most cases paragangliomas produce catecholamines in large concentrations and the lack of treatment can lead to cardiovascular and cerebral catastrophes. That is why early diagnosis of this tumor is so important and, consequently, knowledge of its d...

Background and aims: In 2005, experts from the IDF assigned the risk of developing coronary heart disease in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1) at age of 30 and over or patients with DM1 with kidney damage equal to the patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The need for a non-invasive preclinical marker for identifying patients with the increased risk of cardiovascular disease is obvious. The assessment of arterial stiffness can play a role of such marker. The aim o...