Endocrine Abstracts

Hypocalcaemia is one of the common metabolic abnormalities found in hospitalised patients. The most common cause of hypocalcaemia is Vitamin D deficiency. Others causes include hypoparathyroidism, chronic kidney disease and hypomagnesemia. Multiple factors can co-exist in the same patient. We present here a case of hypocalcaemia caused by multiple factors in the same patient. The patient we present probably had multiple factors contributing to hypocalcaemia. Our hypothesis is ...

Background: Neuroendocrine tumours are rare tumours that arise from neuroendocrine cell types which are widespread throughout the body. These tumours can develop in many different organs and secrete a variety of hormones making biochemical monitoring of treatment/progression challenging. Previously patients at Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre were monitored using either a full gut hormone profile (GHP) or chromogranin A and B (CGs) measured at Charing Cross Hospital. A n...

Objective: Personal continuous glucose monitoring (pCGM) with interstitial fluid glucose sensing is rapidly becoming the standard of care for real-time, intensive insulin therapy of diabetes. We report our experience of glycemic control in patients in an academic setting using minimally invasive pCGM with continuous s.c. insulin infusion (CSII, or insulin pump) vs CSII alone.Methods: Over a two-year period, we reviewed all patients treated with insulin p...

We describe a 91 year old woman who presented to hospital with transient loss of consciousness resulting in facial trauma. In the preceding 6 weeks she described 2 similar episodes of loss of consciousness and general malaise. She had a past medical history of pulmonary hypertension secondary to recurrent pulmonary emboli. Relevant medication included furosemide 20 mg od and life-long warfarin.On examination she had significant orbitofrontal bruising and...

A recent audit of the urine steroid profile (USP) service at Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI) revealed that up to 25% of requests are made inappropriately, or without any clinical information. In contrast to the majority of biochemical testing, USP analysis is very labour intensive, and interpretation of results requires both quantitative and qualitative assessment of the profile. Adequate clinical information is essential to generate a complete report, as a number of steroids fo...

Background: Chromogranin A is an acidic 48 kDa glycoprotein originating from the chromaffin granules of most neuroendocrine cell types. In health chromogranin A is released as a pro-hormone together with other peptide hormones in response to stimulation. In disease larger quantities of Chromogranin A are produced by neuroendocrine derived tumours thus allowing its use as a tumour marker. Due to the different clinical scenarios for measuring Chromogranin A requesting practices ...

Background/aims: Thyroglobulin (Tg) is used for monitoring patients who have undergone total thyroidectomy (TT) and radioiodine (RAI) ablation therapy for thyroid cancer. The current method is the Siemens Immulite assay with limit of quantification of 2 ng/mL following in-house evaluation. Recent guidelines suggest the use of high sensitivity Tg (hs-Tg) as an alternative to TSH stimulated Tg levels. The aim is to evaluate the hs-Tg Beckman Access II assay with a stated functio...

Bronchial carcinoid tumours are uncommon pulmonary neoplasms. Manifestation of a bronchial carcinoid with acromegaly secondary to extra-pituitary growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) production is rare, but bronchial carcinoid tumours are the most common cause of ectopic GHRH secretion.We report the case of 60 year old female, ex-smoker with hypertension presenting with cough, dyspnoea and right lower lobe opacity on the chest X-ray. Patient was noted...

Ablative radioiodine therapy is critical to the treatment of differentiated thyroid cancers and their metastases, and relies on the innate ability of thyroid cells to uptake iodide via the sodium iodide symporter (NIS). As tumours with reduced avidity for radioiodine have a poorer prognosis,it is critical to identify ways to induce NIS activity and hence radioiodine uptake.Pituitary tumor transforming gene (PTTG) and its interacting partner, PTTG-binding...

Background and objectives: Obesity is associated with a relatively high prevalence of anaemia and iron deficiency compared to normal weight individuals; the cause is unknown. We aimed to determine the prevalence of iron deficiency and anaemia in a severely obese cohort of bariatric surgery candidates, and to explore underlying associations with markers of nutrition and inflammation.Methods: In a retrospective review of 703 consecutive patients presenting...