Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Pituitary apoplexy is an uncommon medical emergency with a reported incidence in pituitary adenomas of 2–7%. UK guidelines on the management of pituitary apoplexy have recently been published. On this background we analysed the management of pituitary apoplexy at a single tertiary centre.Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed to evaluate clinical presentation, management and clinical outcomes in a cohort of patients, who prese...

A 19-year-old student was referred with a history of increasing anxiety attacks, palpitations and breathlessness. Blood pressure and urinary catecholamine levels were elevated. MRI imaging confirmed a para-aortic paraganglionoma and MIBG scan highlighted bony metastases. The patient underwent surgery for the primary lesion and targeted MIBG therapy for metastases.Age of onset, malignant disease and metastases increase the likelihood of a genetic cause an...

Primary hyperaldosteronism is now recognised as the most frequent underlying cause of hypertension. We recruited 94 patients (age (mean±S.D.) 56±11 years) with hypertension from primary care in order to study the role of corticosteroid hormone action in this cohort. Random, blood pressure (BP), plasma renin activity (PRA) and aldosterone (Aldo) was measured both on and off antihypertensive medication. In addition, a 24 h ambulatory blood pressure (ABP)...

Background: It is well established that patients with acromegaly have compromised quality of life both during active disease, as well as whilst on remission. (1). In the recent years, there has been increasing emphasis on the importance of considering health-related quality of life (QoL) outcomes in the care of patients with acromegaly. The University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust introduced and implemented the use of a holistic needs assessment (HNA) tool in the P...

A 69-year-old non-diabetic woman presented with 1 month of recurrent drowsiness and confusion secondary to hypoglycaemia, nocturnal and on fasting. On admission her CBG was 2.6 mmol/l, confirmed venously. Her history was of a large solitary fibrous tumour (SFT) of the chest wall first resected in 2011 with recurrent relapses requiring surgery in 2016 and 2017. Histology showed typical features of SFT. Despite palliative chemo-radiotherapy for a further relapses, there was prog...

A 69-year-old man was referred to our Pituitary Service for a 3-month history of progressive right visual loss and a finding of “pituitary enlargement” on brain MRI. He reported erectile dysfunction and his medical history included asthma, DM2 and meningitis (8 years ago). Neuro-ophthalmology review showed visual acuity 6/60, optic neuropathy, marked visual field loss with residual superonasal island in right eye, mild 6th nerve palsy. Pituitary MRI: infil...

Introduction: Ectopic ACTH syndrome (EAS) is a rare condition, accounting for approximately 10% of all Cushing’s syndrome (CS). We assessed the experience managing this condition in our centre.Methods: 171 patients (105 female, 66 male) with elevated plasma ACTH concentrations were identified from local IT systems at a tertiary centre (University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust) between 2002 and 2015. An electron...

Background: It has been proposed that menopause has a beneficial effect on the natural history of hyperprolactinaemia attributed to prolactinoma. Nonetheless, series systematically assessing outcome in females with prolactinoma who have passed through menopause are very limited.Aim: To investigate the impact of menopause on prolactinomas in patients not on dopamine agonist (DA) treatment.Patie...

Introduction: Ectopic ACTH syndrome (EAS) is a rare condition, accounting for approximately 10% of all Cushing’s syndrome (CS). We assessed the experience managing this condition in our centre.Methods: 171 patients (105 female, 66 male) with elevated plasma ACTH concentrations were identified from local IT systems at a tertiary centre (University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust) between 2002 and 2015. An electron...

Background: It has been proposed that menopause has a beneficial effect on the natural history of hyperprolactinaemia attributed to prolactinoma. Nonetheless, series systematically assessing outcome in females with prolactinoma who have passed through menopause are very limited.Aim: To investigate the impact of menopause on prolactinomas in patients not on dopamine agonist (DA) treatment.Patie...