Endocrine Abstracts

Background: In December 2017, a Nurse-Led AI clinic was introduced at University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff for the evaluation and follow-up of these patients. The clinic pathway was based upon the 2016 European Society for Endocrinology (ESE) guidelines on the management of adrenal incidentalomas.Aim: To evaluate the effectiveness of this new service and the cost-saving benefit.Methods: Electronic and paper-based patient records w...

Introduction: The thyroxine absorption test (TAT) is well established to investigate persistently raised TSH in patients on L-thyroxine. We review our experience with this test.Method: Blood was taken for baseline FT4, FT3, TSH measurements and malabsorption screen. A week’s supply of L-thyroxine (1.6 mcg/kg×7) was administered orally under direct supervision and FT4 and TSH measured 2 h later. Patients continued o...

Case history: A 49-year-old male with hypertension (on doxazosin, amlodipine and perindopril), obesity (BMI 40 kg/m2) and recent DVT (on warfarin) presented with a few months’ history of episodic headaches, palpitations, light-headedness and sweats accompanied by facial pallor, occurring around twice weekly without warning. Symptoms were often worse when upright. Spontaneous recovery followed. He did not have a family history of endocrine disease. Clinical exam...

Abstract: The most commonly used techniques to measure vitamin D are automated immunoassays, which are known to be affected by interferences, especially from immunoglobulins present in the patient’s serum. We present a case of a patient with IgA myeloma in whom interference with the vitamin D assay was identified. An 76-year-old male, known to have: ischemic heart disease, atrial fibrillation, COPD, type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and hypertension was referred to the Endocrinolo...

Purpose: The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ultrasound (US)-guided radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for treating of benign thyroid nodules.Material and methods: The retrospective analysis included the results of treatment of 450 patients with benign tumors of the thyroid gland in the Samara Oncology Center. 91 (20.2%) patients had autonomously functioning thyroid nodules and 359 (79.8%) had symptomatic ones. The mean volu...

The incretin hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) has been proposed to increase beta cell mass, via effects on proliferation, apoptosis and neogenesis. However, the role of GLP-1 during normal human development is unclear. We have addressed this in human fetuses by quantifying GLP-1 secretion during fetal development and determining how GLP-1 signalling impacts on early human fetal pancreas in explant culture.GLP-1 is first secreted by the stomach, du...

Background/aims/method: Evaluation/management of adrenal incidentalomas (AI) is an increasingly prevalent challenge. CT/MRI characteristics may be useful in determining whether a lesion is a benign adenoma and forthcoming ESE-ENSAT guidance suggests a role for 18F-FDG-PET/CT in distinguishing benign vs malignant lesions. We have previously demonstrated the utility of 11C-metomidate (MTO), which binds CYP11B1/B2, in localising aldosterone-producing adenoma...

Acylation stimulating protein (ASP) synthesis occurs through the interaction between complement C3, factor B and adipsin in adipose tissue. ASP demonstrates potent lipogenic effects that are modulated by sex hormones in vivo and in vitro. In this study, an ex vivo investigation was carried out to analyse expression of genes related to ASP production and function. Adipose tissue was harvested from ovariectomized rats (n=6), and treated with s...

Background: Congenital hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (CHH) is a rare disorder (1:4′000-10′000) characterized by absent puberty and infertility. There is striking gender discordance (3–4 males for each female case) thus women with CHH are the “rarest of the rare”. Unlike many orphan conditions, treatments are available and hormonal therapies are effective for inducing puberty and fertility. However, the presumable availability of treatment does not ne...

Background: Current practice of monitoring adrenal incidentalomas with biochemical follow-up and repeat imaging studies is under review by the ESE.Following an audit presented in 2015, we proposed that this extensive follow-up was unnecessary in radiologically benign lesions, as neither functional nor malignant lesions were present in this subgroup.Methods: A retrospective review of the same cohort of 145 patients with adrenal inci...