Endocrine Abstracts

Glucocorticoid remediable aldosteronism (GRA) was first described in 1966 by Sutherland et ala. In this family, aldosterone secretion was regulated by ACTH and symptoms and signs were reversed by the administration of exogenous glucocorticoid. GRA is usually characterised by moderate to severe hypertension with early onset. The hypertension is often difficult to control and is associated with greatly increased vascular risk. It is inherited as an autosomal dominant trait and ...

The diagnosis of Cushing’s syndrome firstly involves making or excluding the diagnosis. If the diagnosis is confirmed then an accurate diagnosis is needed as treatment modalities are in general specific to the aetiology. The diagnosis can be straightforward when symptoms and signs are classical and advanced. In these patients 24 h urinary free cortisol levels are markedly raised, late evening serum and salivary cortisol levels are raised and there is failure to suppress s...

Background: Prevalence of obesity and diabetes has increased significantly in the UAE over the last 40 years. Adenovirus 36 (Adv36) infection has been associated with obesity in several studies across different ethnic populations, and usually is associated with improved glucose tolerance.Objective: 1) Identify the prevalence of Adv36 seropositivity among adults living in the UAE.2) Investigate the association of Adv36 infection wit...

Aim: To evaluate current practices relating to diagnosis and treatment of congenital hypothyroidism (CHT) in Aneurin Bevan University Health Board (ABUHB) compared to national guidelines and the use of radioisotope scanning in improving etiological diagnosis.Method: This service evaluation used a database of paediatric hypothyroid patients in ABUHB. Only children with CHT were included and any children born before January 2014 were excluded. 30 children ...

The vasodilator minoxidil is a potent antihypertensive agent. However, its use has been rather limited and it can easily be overlooked in the era of ACE inhibition and angiotensin receptor blockade. It must be used with diuretic and beta-blocker cover.We reviewed 13 male patients with refractory hypertension attending our hypertension clinic from January to July 2004 and currently receiving minoxidil. Analysis was with paired t-tests.<p class="abstex...

Existing treatments for pituitary-dependent Cushing's Syndrome include pituitary or adrenal surgery, pituitary irradiation and medical therapy. Pituitary microsurgery is the usual therapy of first choice but is not always successful in achieving early apparent remission and is associated with significant late relapses. An effective drug therapy for humans would be a major advance as there is significant morbidity and mortality in Cushing's Syndrome. Recent elegant in vitro and...

A 45-year-old lady presented with a 12-month history of blurred vision. Visual assessment revealed a bitemporal hemianopia and CT scan demonstrated a large pituitary tumour with lateral and suprasellar extension. A GTT showed her growth hormone was raised basally at 7.5 milliunits per litre and incompletely suppressed to 5.7 milliunits per litre confirming acromegaly. Transsphenoidal hypophysectomy was performed. Histology confirmed a somatoptroph adenoma. Post operatively she...

A 34-year-old woman, presented to her General Practitioner with hot flushes. Investigations showed her to have a normal LH, FSH, free T4 and TSH. Her prolactin was elevated at 1110 milliunits per litre (NR <350 ). She had a normal menarche age 14 and had regular 28 day menstrual cycles. Before the onset of the hot flushes she had started to take agnus castus, a herbal remedy said to help symptoms of premenstrual tension.Whilst she continued to take ...

Pituitary adenomas are frequent intracranial tumors that often associate with the hypersecretion of pituitary hormones or may be non-secreting (nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas, NFPA). Tumors resembling human NFPAs develop with complete penetrance in rats affected by the multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome, MENX. This syndrome is caused by a germline loss of function mutation in p27Kip1. Gene expression array analysis performed in our group identified a considera...

A 60-year-old man presented with symptomatic primary hyperparathyroidism. At this time serum corrected calcium was 3.1 mmol/l (2.15–2.65 mmol/l) and after investigation bilateral parathyroid exploration was performed. A suspected adenoma was identified in the right inferior gland and removed. The remaining glands appeared normal. The adenoma was confirmed histologically. Early post-operative calcium was normal (2.48 mmol/l).He remained well and calc...