Endocrine Abstracts

A 77 year old female was referred to endocrinology with an incidental finding of hypophosphataemia (0.26 mmol/l) on routine bloods. She described a slight unsteadiness on her feet, but denied bone pain or overt muscle weakness. Past medical history included Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, a left humeral fragility fracture and the subsequent diagnosis of osteoporosis 2 years previously. At presentation the corrected calcium was slightly elevated (2.64 mmol/l), which normalised when r...

Chronic wounds contribute significantly to patient morbidity, mortality and associated healthcare costs. Glucocorticoid (GC) excess and hypoxia are both associated with impaired wound healing (WH) outcomes. The cyclooxygerase 2 (COX2) pathway is an integral component of inflammation and WH. Locally, GC availability is regulated by the enzyme 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD1) which generates cortisol from inactive cortisone. Although we recently demon...

Familial hypocalciuric hypercalcaemia (FHH) is a rare condition and can be mistaken for primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT). Distinguishing this from the later is vital to avoid un-necessary surgery as this is a benign condition. Ca:Cr excretion ratio >0.01 in a spot urine is widely used to rule out FHH. However this was calculated from 24 h urine samples on the original studies.We present a case of 46-year-old lady who presented with symptomatic hype...

This retrospective cohort study examined Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) and Hospital Pharmacy Audit (HPA) data from 41 hospital trusts to understand how hyponatraemia secondary to syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH) is currently treated in England, and to understand the associated resource use. Hyponatraemia is the electrolyte disturbance that is most commonly encountered in clinical practice (affecting 10–30% of hospitalised patients), wit...

The epidemiology of hyperprolactinaemia is not well characterised in the literature. Using unique patient identifier we were able to link data from biochemistry, prescribing, hospital admissions, radiology, general registry office and maternity data. Observational data was collected for Tayside Scotland between 1993 and 2013. Any patient with a serum prolactin measurement >1000 mU/l or at least three prescriptions for a dopamine agonist were included. Patients who were pre...

Background: Turner syndrome (TS) is associated with significant morbidity and a reduction in life expectancy. National guidelines have been developed to support the management of adult patients with TS but little is known about their implementation. We therefore sought to compare the management of patients with TS seen within a single tertiary referral centre by endocrinology, either general-purpose or Turner-specific clinics (TSC), or by other specialties.<p class="abstex...

Introduction: Primary hyperaldosteronism (PHA) accounts for 5–13% of all hypertension and up to 20% of resistant hypertension. Aldosterone producing adenomas (APA) account for 60% of PHA and surgical resection in these patients can be curative. There is no consensus on the need for and duration of follow-up after adrenalectomy. This study assessed the immediate effect of unilateral adrenalectomy for APA on the serum potassium, renin and aldosterone levels. Acute effects o...

Ipilimumab, pembrolizumab, and nivolumab – novel immune checkpoint blockade drugs – are increasingly used in the treatment of metastatic melanoma and other cancers. Ipilimumab is an anti-cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA4) MAB and the first drug shown to improve overall survival in metastatic melanoma. Hypophysitis is a widely described side-effect linked with both lymphocytic inflammation and a direct toxic effect on the pituitary in mouse studies, but has been...

Introduction: Primary, non-motile, cilia are microtubule-based organelles that protrude from the cell membrane into the extracellular environment of virtually all nucleated mammalian cells. They function as signalling platforms involved in the transduction of extracellular stimuli and have an important role in cell cycle regulation. Disruption of primary cilia structure and therefore function has been identified in a range of cancers including kidney, breast, pancreatic and pr...

Neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) are rare tumours that originate from neuroendocrine cells and their incidence has increased for the last 20 decades; partly because of advances in diagnostic tools, which have improved detection rates. Chromogranin A (CgA) is the most widely used biochemical tumour marker for NETs, however, its prognostic utility has been questioned due to several non-neuroendocrine causes of elevated CgA. This is the first study to assess the prognostic utility o...