Endocrine Abstracts

Management of newly-diagnosed non-functioning pituitary adenomas (NFPAs) has evolved over the last decade. Whilst surgical debulking remains the mainstay of treatment for patients presenting with compressive disease, the use of pituitary irradiation has declined, with greater emphasis on observation or further surgical debulking. We aimed to compare outcomes of treatment for NFPAs at our institution since 2004 with older management strategies.We reviewed...

Background: Preterm infants represent around 10% of births worldwide and have increased risk of adverse metabolic outcomes in later life. The approach to feeding preterms must balance the need to promote brain growth by providing adequate nutrients whilst avoiding potentially harmful excess nutrition.Objective: To investigate the association between patterns of weight gain in infancy and childhood with later insulin sensitivity in adolescents who were bo...

Background: Immune responses to self-peptides should not generally occur. However, four of 12 autoimmune Addison’s disease (AAD) patients developed adverse reactions immediately after synacthen injections, following repeated subcutaneous synacthen injections during a clinical trial (RoSA study). We wondered if these adverse effects were due to the production of anti-synacthen (ACTH1–24) antibodies.Methods: We evaluated the presence o...

Introduction: Studies have reported a rising incidence of congenital hypothyroidism (CHT) although the pathophysiology of most cases is unknown. A rising incidence is not simply a reflection of changing assay methodology and environmental factors may have an aetiological role. If so, then cases may exhibit space-time clustering, where cases occur at similar times and close proximities to other cases.Methods: We investigated whether there is evidence of s...

Introduction: Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is an inherited disorder, most commonly caused by enzymatic deficiency of 21-hydroxylase (CYP21A2). The non-classic or late-onset form is one of the most common autosomal recessive diseases in women, but the diagnosis is only rarely made in men unless they happen to present with testicular or adrenal masses or infertility.Case report: A 65-year-old man presented with recurrent episodes of postural dizzin...

Thyroid eye disease is the most frequent extrathyroidal manifestation of Graves’ disease. Severe and active disease is frequently treated with immunosuppressive therapy. IV methylprednisolone (500 mg daily for 3 days) is the treatment of choice with efficacy rates of up to 77%. New onset glucose intolerance/diabetes is the most relevant side effect of this treatment. We investigated the risk of steroid induced diabetes and the risk factors for its development.<p class...

Conventional intramuscular preparations of testosterone esters are associated with wide fluctuations in serum testosterone (T) levels following administration, even when a lower dose (100 mg) is injected every 7–10 days, let alone 250 mg every 2–3 weeks. Depot Testosterone undecanoate [TU -Nebido] is a newly available option for androgen replacement. The possibility of achieving stable therapeutic serum T levels over a period of months is its principal attraction. Da...

Phaeochromocytomas (PCC) are rare neuroendocrine tumours of chromaffin cells that are characterised by autonomous production of catecholamines. Fundamental to the detection and diagnosis is the biochemical confirmation of excessive catecholamine production by the measurement of plasma or urinary catecholamines and metanephrines. Recently, plasma metanephrines have been shown to provide a high diagnostic sensitivity for the detection of catecholamine secreting tumours and unlik...

The common autoimmune endocrinopathies are caused by susceptibility alleles at several genetic loci including MHC, CTLA4, PTPN22 and probably several others. Many of these susceptibility alleles are shared between several different autoimmune disorders including type 1 diabetes, autoimmune thyroid diseases and rheumatoid arthritis. In recent months a novel susceptibility locus was identified in the 5’ end of the Fc receptor-like 3 (FCRL3) gene ...

Familial expansile osteolysis is a rare autosomal dominant disorder of bone, first described in a kindred from Northern Ireland in 1988. There are histological similarities to Paget's disease but the disorder typically presents in the young.Case report: Our patient presented at 15 years of age with sensorineural hearing loss, skeletal pain, gingival hypertrophy and mobile teeth. Neither parent was similarly affected. Radiographs demonstrated tooth root r...