Endocrine Abstracts

The optimum approach to long-term follow-up of well differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) remains unclear. We assessed the outcome of DTC patients followed in primary care (PrC) from Edmonton, AB with tertiary care (TrC) settings from Halifax, NS and London, ON. Patients who met the following criteria were identified: a) Initial diagnosis between January 1, 2006 to December 31, 2011, b) primary tumourA total of 317 patients, (PrC=93 and TrC=2...

Hypothyroidism is a well-known cause of delayed puberty in children. But in rare instances, hypothyroidism can also be related to isolated menarche. The mechanism remains debatable whilst the overall incidence of the condition remains unknown.Case Report: 6-year girl presented to children’s emergency with 2 days history of vaginal bleeding. Mum reported her being intolerant to cold, constipated and faltering growth compared to her twin sister. Her s...

Background and aims: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) requires daily self-management to mimic endocrine function, using numerical skills such as carbohydrate counting and interpreting nutritional information. Healthcare professionals (HCPs) rely on effective communication to relay information to people with T1DM to enable good self-care. Curricula for diabetes self-management education (DSME) courses require high-school level numerical skills. Eighty percent of adults in the Un...

Introduction: POEMS syndrome is a rare multisystemic disorder including polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, monoclonal plasma-proliferative disorder and skin changes. We aim to describe the course of the endocrine disease in the context of this paraneoplastic syndrome.Methods: 69 patients with POEMS have been under the MDT care in our hospital. Data is currently available for 32 patients who attended the joint haematological/neurological/endocr...

Introduction and aim: In the UK, 15% of couples are affected by infertility which is due to primary or secondary male factors in 30%. Induction of spermatogenesis with gonadotrophins is a long established endocrine treatment for gonadotrophin deficiency. However, there are concerns that some patient groups have very low success rates. The aim of our audit was to define success of spermatogenesis and fertility rates amongst these men.Methods: We retrospec...

A 35 year old woman was referred to Endocrinology after imaging investigating unexplained pyrexia demonstrated an absent uterus. She was of Pakistani origin and was born phenotypically female with reported normal female genitalia. During late teenage years she experienced virilisation with deepening voice, increased pubic and axillary hair and clitoromegaly. She had absent breast development. Her parents were first cousins and siblings were unaffected. Investigations in Pakist...

Introduction: We present a case which highlights the complexities of managing hyperthyroidism.Case report: An 81 year old man complained of irritability, insomnia, diarrhoea, shortness of breath and weight loss. Past medical history includes type II diabetes, atrial fibrillation (AF), hypertension, gallstone pancreatitis requiring cholecystectomy (2005). Clinically, he was in fast AF and right heart failure. On examination he had a tremor; normal sized t...

Primary adrenal lymphoma is a rare phenomenon with a male preponderance. There is bilateral gland involvement in two thirds of cases. Histology usually reveals an aggressive diffuse large B-cell subtype. Adrenal insufficiency is a recognised complication. We present a 62 year old man with a 4 month history of weight loss, night sweats and malaise. Clinical examination revealed right renal angle tenderness with no palpable lymphadenopathy. Inflammatory markers were raised with ...

Introduction: Aldosterone is a potent adrenal steroid hormone which regulates renal sodium reabsorption and potassium secretion. Clinically, measurement of aldosterone is important to identify patients with primary hyperaldosteronism, and has traditionally been performed by immunoassay. The specificity of immunoassays is often poor due to antibody cross reactivity to other structurally related steroid hormones, resulting in falsely elevated concentrations. To overcome these li...

The guidelines for the treatment of pituitary apoplexy have now been published in Clinical Endocrinology (Clin Endocrinol 2011 Jan;74(1):9–20). These resulted from a group set up during the London pituitary multidisciplinary meeting.Classical pituitary apoplexy is a medical emergency and rapid replacement with hydrocortisone maybe life saving. It is a clinical syndrome characterised by the sudden onset of headache, vomiting, visual imp...