Endocrine Abstracts

Background: About one in 3000 babies born in the UK have congenital hypothyroidism (CHT), which is usually due to an agenesis of the thyroid gland, but some are due to dyshormogenesis, which can be transient or permanent.Method: Retrospective analysis of medical notes of infants referred as ‘suspect’ congenital hypothyroidism from the newborn blood spot screening centre to the paediatric endocrinology service at our hospital from January 2002 t...

Background: Acute adrenal insufficiency leads to potentially life threatening crises if increases in steroids are delayed or insufficient. The patient is central to early increases in dosage and informing Healthcare Professionals of their steroid-dependency.Methods: To assess adequacy of information given to cortisol deficient patients we performed an audit of case notes documentation. The audit was performed over four weeks, involving 32 patients from t...

Introduction: Thyroid eye disease (TED) is a visually disabling and cosmetically disfiguring condition. There is a paucity of research on the psychosocial impact of TED. One of the aims of this research is to improve understanding of the extent and type of psychosocial distress experienced by TED patients.Method: 77 patients with TED were recruited (53 female, 24 male; aged between 25 and 73 years, average age=47.6±11.6 yrs; 58% Caucasian). Particip...

Radioactive iodine is a common and effective treatment for hyperthyroidism. Post radio-iodine hypothyroidism is a frequent complication occurring in ~80% of radioiodine treated patients. This can be diagnosed clinically (by monitoring free T4 and TSH levels) but, in our centre, a 123I uptake scan 6 weeks after therapy is sometimes used to help predict the likelihood of future hypothyroidism. In these situations, thyroxine therapy can be started if radioio...

Objective: Diamorphine and methadone administration are associated with dysfunction of the hypothalamo pituitary gonadal axis in premenopausal women. However, the effects of less potent opioids on this axis remain unclear.Methods: We report a case of a 42 year old woman referred with secondary amenorrhoea and low oestradiol levels (oestradiol <50 iu/l). She started menarche aged 14, followed by regular menstrual cycles, two successful pregnancies, tw...

GH deficiency is believed to adversely impair skeletal health. In this study bone mass and architecture was assessed using DXA & pQCT. 30 GHD adults (peak GH to stimulation 0.33 to 2.4 mcg/l), 24 GHI adults (peak GH 1.6 to 6.7 mcg/l), and 30 controls comprised the study population.BMD (areal and volumetric), bone size, and architecture, were not significantly different from those of control subjects in either the GHD or GHI, AO groups. CO GHD adults ...

One study examining the lipid profile of adults with partial GH deficiency (GH insufficiency, GHI) suggested they are dyslipidaemic. We defined GH status using two stimulation tests, the ITT and AST, in to patients with severe GHD (pGH < 3ng/ml, n = 30) or GHI (pGH 3 - 7ng/ml, n = 24). Thirty age and gender matched controls were studied.There were no differences in age between the GHD, GHI, and control subjects (30.9 vs 31.5 vs 34.2 yrs). IGF-I levels...

Limited data exist describing direct volumetric measures of BMD (g/cm3) in adults with severe GHD or GH-insufficiency. We measured BMD in 30 GHD adults (peak GH to stimulation <3 mcg/l), 24 GH-insufficient adults (GHI, pGH 3 - 7 mcg/l), and 30 age/gender matched control subjects by DXA and pQCT.DXA performed at the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and total hip confirmed GHD adults to have reduced BMD (g/cm2) at all sites (p = 0.05, p...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between APD, treated Cushing's disease and severe hypopituitarism.METHODS: Fifty-seven patients (42 female), in remission after treatment for Cushing's disease, were studied. The cohort comprised 13 patients with, and 44 without APD. APD was defined as a serum prolactin persistently below the detection limit of the assay. Age and gender did not significantly differ between sub-groups.RESULT...

The diagnosis of GHD is based on GH stimulation tests. The test of choice is the ITT and a peak GH response of less than 9mU/L is considered diagnostic of GHD. Peak GH values of less than 20mU/L during an ITT are infrequently observed in healthy adults. In hypopituitary patients a peak GH values to the ITT of 9-20 mU/L likely represents a state of partial GHD, or GH insufficiency (GHI). To investigate if patients with GHI have similar features to GHD adults we assessed body co...