Endocrine Abstracts

Background: The causes of symptomatic bradycardia/complete are multifactorial. Bradycardia/complete heart block may be drug induced, electrolyte imbalance, ischaemic heart disease, or thyroid dysfunction. Hypothyroidism and electrolyte disturbances are reversible.Objectives/aims: To dentify/find out whether thyroid function test where performed in patients presenting with bradycardia/CHB in keeping with good practice before insertion of permanent pace ma...

Recent advances in molecular pathology have improved our knowledge on the pathogenesis of pituitary tumors, as well as on their growth potential, likelihood of recurrence, and prognosis. The development of reliable and prognostically informative methods of assessing tumor behavior is particularly important in pituitary tumors, where no precise correlation exists between morphology and clinical aggressiveness. Specific morphologic features (macroscopic invasion of the perisella...

Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most common form of secondary hypertension with an estimated prevalence between 6 and 12% of hypertensives and as high as 20% in patients with resistant hypertension. Among subtypes of PA, the two principal causes are Aldosterone Producing Adenoma (APA) and Bilateral Adrenal Hyperplasia (BAH, also known as idiopathic hyperaldosteronism). Recent evidence has suggested that recurrent somatic mutations of the KCNJ5 gene coding for the potassium c...

We present the case of a 54-year-old female who presented with a subarachnoid haemorrhage secondary to a left posterior communicating artery aneurysm in 2002 whilst in South Africa. The aneurysm was clipped in early 2003. Post operatively, she developed polyuria and polydypsia attributed to diabetes insipidus and was started on desmopressin nasal spray. Her background medical history includes hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and hypothyroidism and her medication was perindopril, ...

Female menopause is an inevitable condition caused by biological programmed primary ovarian failure and resulting in an abrupt deficiency in estrogens. Men may experience a gradual decline in androgen levels with increasing age but, in contrast to the phenomenon in women, it is questionable whether this is an inevitable biologically programmed event or whether it is related to other age- related changes or to long-term effects of lifestyle factors.Hormon...

Adipose tissue is a highly active metabolic organ which, together with its classical role as energy storage depot, releases a wide variety of bioactive molecules with signaling properties, the adipokines, that play central roles in the regulation of energy metabolism and homeostasis, immunity and inflammation. Alterations in both adipokine production and lipid metabolism have been proposed to underlie the metabolic and cardiovascular disorders associated to excess body fat acc...

Background: Vitamin D deficiency contributes to elastographic hardening of thyroid nodules in patients with hypothyroidism. In such patients, the nodules are elastographically consistent with type 3b. Vitamin D regulation promotes the transition of nodules from type 3b to type 3a.Objectives: The objective of the present study is to determine the effect of low level of vitamin D on calcium and phosphate metabolism.Methods...

Osteoporosis is a skeletal condition of low bone mass and increased risk of fractures and occurs most commonly in postmenopausal women. Severe osteoporosis is characterised by the presence of fragility fractures and high mortality and morbidity. We present the case of a 21-year-old female with primary hyperparathyroidism (pHP) who, despite her young age, surprisingly presented with severe osteoporosis. The 21-year-old female was hospitalised due to a recurrent flare of Still&#...

Familial hypocalciuric hypercalcaemia (FHH) is a rare autosomal dominant condition due to a mutation in the calcium-sensing receptor gene (CaSR). The CaSR is located on chromosome 3 and mutations are commonly heterozygote mutations causing loss of function. Heterozygote mutations demonstrate benign disease with mild, asymptomatic hypercalcaemia. Homozygous mutations in the CaSR usually present with neonatal severe hyperparathyroidism (NSHPT) in the first few weeks of life and ...

Introduction: Isolated postprandial hyperinsulinaemic hypoglycaemia (PPHH) in the paediatric age has been exceptionally reported in the literature.Objective: To describe the clinical and biochemical characteristics as well as the management of a cohort of children with isolated PPHH followed at a single tertiary paediatric centre.Subjects and methods: Six children (three males) were collected. The clinical characteristics, diagnosi...