Endocrine Abstracts

Children diagnosed with either Growth Hormone deficiency (GHD) or Turner syndrome (TS) are both treated with GH titrated against either weight or area. The response to such treatment however, is highly variable and, at least in part, diagnosis dependent. The precise mechanisms underlying this variability are unknown. As basal GH levels differ between GHD and TS and, as GH elicits its effects through changes in gene expression, the basal gene expression profiles of GHD and TS s...

Autoimmune hypophysitis is a rare disease with only 28 cases reported in UK so far. Subsequent pregnancy, especially after pituitary surgery, is even more rare. We report a 34-year-old lady who presented 5 weeks after the birth of her second child with visual loss and headache. Subsequent investigations revealed a pituitary macroadenoma with suprasellar extension and chiasmal compression. She underwent transphenoidal adenomectomy with complete recovery of vision. Preoperativel...

We evaluate the short and long-term outcomes following diagnosis and treatment of pituitary dependent Cushing’s disease from a single centre. From 1971, there were 47 patients with proven endogenous cortisol excess, of whom, 43 (92%) had pituitary dependent Cushing’s disease. The median age of this cohort was 38±11years and the majority (77%) were females. 17 patients had primary treatment either with radiotherapy (n=9), bilateral adrenalectomy (n=...

Objective: To assess the understanding of congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) among families of Caucasian White (W) and Asian (A) with CAH, and also to evaluate the need for interpreters for Asian families attending the North West Regional CAH clinic.Design: A parent directed questionnaire was administered by two interviewers, one of whom spoke Urdu,Punjabi and Bengali to 18 A families ( M = 8 F=18) and 39 W families (M=20 F=22) with children with CAH, ...

Objective: To evaluate the impact of laser treatment on the severity of facial hirsutism as well as psychological morbidity in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).Methods: Randomised controlled trial of 5 high fluence treatments (intervention) or 5 low fluence treatments (control) over 6 months. 88 women with facial hirsutism due to PCOS were recruited from hospital outpatient clinics and a patient support group in 2002. Main outcomes were self r...

Increased mortality in patients with acromegaly has been confirmed in a number of retrospective studies, but causative factors and relationship to serum IGF1 remain uncertain. The West Midlands Acromegaly database contains details of 419 patients (178 males). Serum IGF1 data from the Regional Endocrine Laboratory was available for 338 patients (81%). At diagnosis mean age was 47 years (range 12-84) and mean GH was 70plus/minus5.4 milliunits per litre. 61% were treated by surge...

In numerous tumour types, including those of pituitary origin, gene silencing is frequently mediated through inappropriate methylation of CpG islands. In studies designed to identify novel methylated sequences we used a technique termed arbitrarily primed methylation sensitive PCR (MsAP-PCR) to identify DNA in its hypermethylated forms. The technique relies on cutting the DNA, with methylation sensitive restriction enzymes, prior to PCR amplification. In a similar way in which...

Background: The 1 mg overnight dexamethasone suppression test (ONDST) is recommended for the differential diagnosis of Cushing’s syndrome and the investigation of adrenal incidentalomas. However, diagnostic performance of the test relies on accurate methods to quantitate cortisol in serum. Although the variable performance of serum cortisol immunoassays has been well-documented, little has been published on their performance following the ONDST.Aims...

Background: Previous studies use small for gestational age (SGA) as a surrogate marker for fetal growth restriction (FGR). SGA individuals, particularly those who show catch-up growth have greater cardiometabolic (CM) risk than those born appropriate for gestational age. However, not all FGR fetuses are born SGA. Therefore, we studied neonates born following pregnancies at increased risk of FGR, irrespective of birthweight.Aim: To define associations bet...

Background: Cardiometabolic (CM) risk is linked to being small for gestational age (SGA, birthweight <-2SDS). Suboptimal fetal growth alone may be linked with greater CM risk without resulting in SGA. Therefore, we focused on CM risk in children born following pregnancies at higher risk for growth restriction, irrespective of birthweight.Aims: 1. To identify associations between fetal and childhood weight trajectories and CM risk markers. 2. To defin...