Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Despite advances in analytic and imaging techniques, the syndrome of ectopic ACTH secretion from a tumour resulting in Cushing’s syndrome continues to pose difficult diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. We report a patient with ectopic ACTH from a bronchial carcinoid tumour highlighting the unusual presentation and difficulties in management.Case description: A 23-year-old man with a past medical history of Cushing disease presented ...

A phaeochromocytoma is a catecholamine secreting tumour arising from the adrenal medulla and a paraganglioma refers to its extra adrenal counterpart, which can develop from sympathetic or parasympathetic tissue anywhere from the skull base to the pelvis. Presenting symptoms of these rare tumours are most commonly related to catecholamine excess, and include headache, palpitations, paroxysmal hypertension, anxiety, abdominal pain and excessive sweating. A phaeochromocytoma cris...

Macroprolactin is a bio-inactive molecule which cross-reacts in prolactin immune-assays. ‘Macroprolactinaemia’ describes hyperprolactinaemia which is entirely explained by the presence of macroprolactin. Failure to recognize macroprolactinaemia is associated with inappropriate investigation and unnecessary treatment. While screening for macroprolactinaemia is regularly undertaken in the UK and Ireland and to a lesser extent in continental European and Japan, this is ...

The 19th century saw the emergence of an extraordinarily gifted group of Dublin doctors who enjoy eponymous recognition. Immediately on graduating Robert Graves’ travelled for over 2 years to many of the foremost medical centres in Europe. On his return he introduced formal bedside teaching and daily lectures which has become the model for clinical training in these islands. Graves’ main other interest was the treatment of febrile illness recognizing the importance o...

The 19th century saw the emergence of an extraordinarily gifted group of Dublin doctors who enjoy eponymous recognition. Immediately on graduating Robert Graves’ travelled for over 2 years to many of the foremost medical centres in Europe. On his return he introduced formal bedside teaching and daily lectures which has become the model for clinical training in these islands. Graves’ main other interest was the treatment of febrile illness recognizing the importance o...

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine-metabolic condition with a strong familial component suggesting a genetic susceptibility. During pregnancy, PCOS mothers offer an altered intrauterine environment which may also be implicated in the origin of this syndrome, and could determine endocrine/metabolic disturbances in their offspring (boys and girls) that may persist later in life. We have evaluated this possibility studying sons and daughters of PCOS mothers fr...

Background: N-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), such as α linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), have been shown to modify several key risk factors for cardiovascular disease, although n-6 PUFA arachidonic acid (AA) has important roles in inflammation. However, it is not clear whether the apparent protection of n-3 PUFA against cardiovascular disease has been found in diabetic patients.Methods: To clari...

Background: Due to improvements in diagnosis capabilities, there has been a recent increase in adrenal tumors, that are incidentally discovered in patients, who underwent examination by sonography (S), computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) The aim of this study was to define the usefulness of contrast-enhanced three-dimensional sonography in the diagnosis of nonfunctioning adrenal incidentalomas.Patients and methods<p class="a...

Previously asymptomatic 29-year-old Saudi male patient, presented to with a history of dizziness, abdominal pain and diarrhea for three days.His morning 800 h serum cortisol was 6.4 μg/dl (normal: 5–25 μg/dl); plasma ACTH was 7579 pg/ml (normal: <46.00). The diagnosis of acute adrenal crisis was made which confirmed later by a defective rise in the cortisol level with ACTH stimulation test.The patient was admitte...

Cyclic Cushing’s syndrome (CysCS) is one of the peculiar types of Cushing’s syndrome, characterized by the iteration between remission and recurrence. The precise mechanism in which the hormonal activity is changed suddenly has not been determined, while several hypotheses have been presented. Here, we report a case of CysCS which was induced remission dramatically by dopamine agonist.A 67-years-old woman was pointed out increasing ACTH and cor...