Endocrine Abstracts

Inappropriately low circulating PTH levels following thyroid surgery, is the most common cause of iatrogenic hypocalcaemia. Standard treatment of hypoparathyroidism has comprised vitamin D analogue and calcium supplementation. However some patients remain hypocalcaemic despite use of maximal titrated and tolerated therapy. Teriparatide is recombinant formulation of endogenous PTH, containing 34 amino acid sequence which is identical to the N-terminal portion of this hormone. W...

Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is not uncommon. It has varied presentations ranging from asymptomatic disease to the classical ‘stones, groans, and moans’. The incidence and prevalence of frank diabetes mellitus (DM) is significantly increased in patients with hypercalcaemia. It may be difficult to differentiate symptoms of hypercalcaemia from DM. We present a case of improved glycaemia in a patient with DM following removal of parathyroid adenoma.<p class="a...

Background: The short Synacthen test (SST) is frequently used to diagnose adrenal insufficiency; however the role of baseline cortisol. With the recent European shortage of synacthen, there was a pressing need to identify the best possible way to use the resource and rationalize the test. Our aim is to identify whether baseline cortisol can be safely used to rule out adrenal insufficiency in clinical practice.Methods: All SSTs performed at the OPD, Royal...

Introduction: Obesity was thought to be protective against osteoporosis, but studies have shown conflicting results. We analysed the cross-sectional data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Data (NHANES) survey (2008–2012) to observe the association between BMI (BMI and/or waist circumference) and bone mineral density (BMD) at the femoral neck.Research methods and design: We categorised the study population (women aged 50 years...

Introduction: The risk for thyroid malignancy is higher in subjects with Graves’ disease particularly papillary thyroid cancer (PTC). However, coincidence of both PTC and follicular thyroid cancer (FTC) in these subjects is rare. In this case report we present a subject with Graves’ disease with a pathological diagnosis of PTC and FTC having aggravated orbitopathy following remnant ablation.Case report: A 53-year-old subject was referred to our...

Background: In the modern day busy clinical practice the communication between patient/relative and care giver is at minimal level. The patients and relatives feel apprehensive when advised about the surgical/interventional treatment. In such situation they feel the need of detail information from the care givers which on many occasions is not available. Story telling is such a technique of health communication made out in common man language which can be made animated and int...

Introduction: Gestational diabetes insipidus (GDI) is a rare endocrinopathy whose incidence is around four cases per 100 000 pregnancies. It is a potentially life threatening state. We present a case of a 39 year old with GDI.Case report: A previously healthy 39-year-old woman in her 37th week of gestation presented dry oral mucosa with polydipsia and polyuria of 8 l over 24 h for approximately 2 month. The prenatal course of the pregnancy was uncomplica...

Aim: Nutritional abnormalities are common after bariatric surgery and it is vitally important to assess and replace them pre-operatively to ease management post-operatively. The aim of our study was to assess the prevalence of various metabolic abnormalities at first visit to a tertiary combined bariatric endocrine clinic.Methods: Data was collected on 200 patients referred for consideration of bariatric surgery. Being a retrospective analysis and theref...

Introduction: Sheehan’s syndrome is hypopituitarism occurring due to pituitary infarction secondary to severe post-partum haemorrhage. Here, we are presenting an interesting case history of Sheehan’s syndrome diagnosed 15–20 years after its onset.Case history: A 47-year-old lady attended emergency room (ER) with recurrent episodes of nausea, vomiting and dizziness on standing. Initial evaluation revealed hypotension and the random...

Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) have twice the risk for metabolic syndrome (MetS) compared to women from the general population. Mothers and sisters of affected women also have an increased prevalence of MetS. We undertook this study to evaluate whether these abnormalities are also present in brothers’ of affected women.Design and setting: A total of 59 brothers (age ≥18 and ≤40 years) of women with PCOS and 59 healthy men (o...