Endocrine Abstracts

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: In adults, treatment of growth hormone deficiency (GHD) with daily recombinant human growth hormone (GH) injections has shown to improve many clinical features associated with GHD. Currently, many adults with GHD receive GH indefinitely, even when they fail to report any obvious benefits from this treatment. Additionally, evidence on the impact of discontinuing long-term GH therapy is limited. We conducted a survey of UK endocrine clinicians (doctors and speciali...

Introduction: Most prolactinomas in females are diagnosed during the years of reproductive age and the majority are microadenomas. Prolactinomas diagnosed after menopause are very rare with limited published data on their presentation and outcomes.Aim: The aim of our study was to assess the presenting clinical, biochemical and imaging findings, as well as the outcomes of women diagnosed with a prolactinoma in the post-menopausal period.<p class="abst...

Background: Isolated pituitary stalk (PS) lesions/thickening detected on imaging pose challenging dilemmas.Aim: Audit the diagnostic approach and management of patients with isolated PS lesions/thickening reported on MRI in a tertiary hospital.Methods: Reports of pituitary/brain MRIs performed in our Radiology Department between 1/2013 and 12/2015 were searched for the terms ‘stalk’, ‘infundibular’, ‘infund...

Introduction: UK guidelines state that all patients undergoing adrenalectomy for phaeochromocytoma must be admitted to intensive care post-operatively due to the risk of haemodynamic instability (HDI). Intensive care beds are a scarce resource and it is important to regularly evaluate the need for admission, preventing unnecessary admission.Methods: The study population included all patients who underwent adrenalectomy for phaeochromocytoma at a UK terti...

Introduction: The 2017 WHO Classification of Pituitary Tumors grades silent corticotroph adenomas (SCAs) as high-risk adenomas due to their aggressive clinical behaviour (high probability of recurrence). Nonetheless, studies comparing recurrence rates of SCA with other non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPAs) subtypes have provided conflicting results necessitating review of the evidence this recommendation relies on.Aims: To estimate recurrence rates ...

Introduction: High incidence of polyp formation and mucosal hypertrophy in paranasal sinuses have been reported in patients with acromegaly. Lund-Mackay score is widely used to stage chronic rhinosinusitis.Aim: To assess changes in Lund-Mackay score after surgical or medical treatment of acromegaly and their relation to biochemical disease activity.Methods: Records of patients with paired (before and after treatment) pituitary/sinu...

Non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFA) are associated with significant morbidity. Published data on the quality of life (QoL) of NFA patients are scarce and conflicting: some studies indicate a reduced QoL in patients with adequately treated NFAs while others demonstrate that subjective health-related QoL is not compromised to any major extent compared to the general population. Most published studies indicate specific subgroups of patients which are particularly affected, w...

Somatotroph adenomas causing acromegaly are histologically classified into densely and sparsely granulated subtypes and an intermediate, mixed type. Although the different subtypes are not currently taken into account when making decisions about the management of acromegaly, there is growing evidence that the subtypes represent clinically different entities.In a cohort (n=52) of somatostatin-naïve patients with acromegaly, sparsely granulat...

Craniopharyngiomas are tumours which grow in the region of the sella, with adamantinomatous (ACP) and papillary (PCP) subtypes. While usually ‘benign’, They can have devastating long term sequelae, both from the mass effects of the tumour itself on the visual, pituitary or hypothalamic pathways, but also from the neurosurgical challenge to achieve tumour control with preservation of the surrounding pituitary and hypothalamic pathways. To date there is no satisfactory...