Endocrine Abstracts

Headaches associated with acromegaly are common even after hypophysectomy. Medical treatment with dopamine agonists and Somatostatin analogues often help. We report two cases when pharmacological therapy failed but further surgical removal of residual pituitary tissue cured the headaches.A 38 year-old lady presented with an eight year history of headaches, unresponsive to simple analgesia. Acromegaly was confirmed by a raised serum growth hormone (GH) 33...

A 69-year-old female presented in 2002 with symptoms of hyperthyroidism. Thyroid function tests confirmed thyrotoxicosis with elevated fT4 and fT3 but with an elevated TSH (TSH 5.8 mU/l, fT4 31.7 pmol/l, fT3 8.1 pmol/l). Pituitary function tests other than the TSH were normal. Pituitary MRI showed a mass in the left half of the pituitary fossa, displacing the stalk to the right with no suprasellar extension. A T3 suppressi...

A 31-year-old Taiwanese lady presented with palpitations, anxiety, orthopnoea, peripheral oedema, diarrhoea and a swelling in her neck. She was taking no regular medication. Her paternal uncle had been treated for thyrotoxicosis. She smoked 20 cigarettes per day. Clinical examination revealed tachycardia (pulse rate between 115 and 150 beats/min), tachypnoea (respiratory rate 30 breaths/min), hypertension (BP 161/125 mmHg) and congestive cardiac failure. The thyroid gland was ...

Introduction: Radioactive Iodine (RAI) is a well-established and effective treatment for hyperthyroidism. Lithium (Li) blocks the release of organic iodide and thyroid hormone from the thyroid gland without effecting thyroidal RAI uptake. Through decreasing the loss of RAI from the thyroid it has also been shown to reduce urinary RAI excretion. Its use as an adjunct to RAI in the therapy of hyperthyroidism has been postulated, but information on the subject is limited.<p c...

Background: Controversy exists over the prevalence of colonic neoplasia in individuals with acromegaly. Some previous studies have demonstrated an increased prevalence of colorectal neoplasia compared to controls, however others have shown no such association. Furthermore, colonoscopy in acromegalic individuals has an increased rate of complications and even death....

Background: Yttrium-90 (90Y) pituitary implants have previously been used to treat patients with growth hormone (GH) secreting pituitary adenoma. This study reports the long-term effect of 90Y implants on growth hormone levels and pituitary function in a group of acromegalic patients....

BackgroundPrevious studies suggest that patients with acromegaly should have regular colonoscopic examinations due to their increased risk of colorectal neoplasia. However, acromegalic patients have significantly enlarged colon and increased rate of complications due to colonoscopy have been reported.AimTo assess the difficulty of performing colonoscopy in acromegalic patients by comparing large bowel length,...

Introduction: Radioactive Iodine (RAI) is a well-established and effective treatment for hyperthyroidism. Lithium (Li) blocks the release of organic iodide and thyroid hormone from the thyroid gland without effecting thyroidal RAI uptake. Through decreasing the loss of RAI from the thyroid it has also been shown to reduce urinary RAI excretion. Its use as an adjunct to RAI in the therapy of hyperthyroidism has been postulated, but information on the subject is limited....

Adult-onset Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH) is a rare disease characterised by the abnormal proliferation of Langerhans cells, and has a distinct phenotype to that of childhood-onset LCH. Diabetes Insipidus (DI) is a well-recognised manifestation of LCH, caused by infiltration of the hypothalamo-pituitary axis (HPA). Anterior pituitary dysfunction is an uncommon complication of LCH, which has been shown to be associated with DI. However, this association has previously onl...

BACKGROUND: Patients with dyspepsia are treated with proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) which reduce acid secretion and therefore give rise to a secondary hypergastrinaemia. Gastrinomas are a rare cause of dyspepsia diagnosed on the basis of a raised fasting gastrin measurement. Therefore, when screening patients with dyspepsia for a gastrinoma, PPIs must be withdrawn for 2 weeks, prior to the measurement of fasting gastrin levels to ensure that fasting gastrin levels are back to b...