Endocrine Abstracts

Objective: The hypothalamus–pituitary–thyroid axis profoundly influences skeletal development. Whilst the adverse effects of thyroid dysfunction on bone are well established; the effects of variation within the normal range is less clear.Design: In a subset of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children we performed full thyroid function tests from stored samples taken at age 7. 668 children had thyroid hormone parameters within the ref...

On behalf of the Combined immunosuppression & radiotherapy in thyroid eye disease (CIRTED) InvestigatorsBackground: Thyroid eye disease is an inflammatory orbital condition which causes visual dysfunction and psychological morbidity. Current evidence is conflicting on the benefit of radiotherapy and antiproliferative immunosuppression in addition to systemic corticosteroid treatment. In particular, little is known about clinical outcomes mor...

On behalf of the Combined immunosuppression & radiotherapy in thyroid eye disease (CIRTED) InvestigatorsBackground: Thyroid eye disease is an inflammatory orbital condition which causes visual dysfunction and psychological morbidity. Current evidence is conflicting on the benefit of radiotherapy and antiproliferative immunosuppression in addition to systemic corticosteroid treatment. In particular, little is known about clinical outcomes mor...

Background: Radioiodine therapy (I-131) is commonly prescribed for benign thyroid disease in keeping with recommended guidelines.Aims: To determine the effectiveness of I-131 in treating benign thyroid disease and the rates of hypothyroidism following treatment and by diagnosis.Methods: We identified 100 patients who received radioiodine therapy between November 2013 and June 2015 from a database held in the Medical Physics Departm...

Introduction: Primary aldosteronism (PA) is the most common endocrine cause of hypertension affecting up-to 10% of hypertensives. Saline suppression, a confirmatory test for PA helps avoiding patients undergoing invasive lateralisation procedures due to a false positive aldosterone-to-renin ratio (ARR). The proposed cut-off to exclude PA is post-saline aldosterone suppression to <140 pmol/l. We reviewed our biochemical work-up in order to optimise laboratory assessment.</p...

Introduction: There has been a substantial increase in our knowledge of the genetic architecture of thyroid function, with numerous variants associated with TSH and/or FT4 levels. However, our knowledge of the genetic variants associated with thyroid disease is more limited.Methods: Data was obtained from the Neale laboratory† which provided a case-control study to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with a diagnosis of hypothyroidi...

Objectives: Oestrogen analysis using liquid chromatography mass spectrometry is problematic, as oestrogens do not readily ionise. This coupled with low concentrations in men, pre-pubertal and post-menopausal women provides an analytical challenge. We investigated N-Methyl Pyridine-3-sulfonyl chloride (NMPS) derivatisation, as described by Wang et al. (Steroids 2015 Apr;96:140-152) to improve sensitivity of 11 oestrogens; oestrone (E1), oestradiol (E2), 2-hydroxy-oestr...

Mass spectrometry has been used to measure steroids for more than 40 years, but has gained popularity within the endocrine field in the last 15+ years. This is mainly due to technological advances that facilitated the development of high throughput methods.Historically, steroids were measured by crude techniques such as thin layer chromatography (TLC) and later by the more sophisticated RIA. The problems with these techniques include:<p class="abstex...

Tolvaptan (a selective V2 receptor antagonist) is licensed for the inpatient management of SIADH induced hyponatraemia, a common complication in patients with malignancy. Licensed daily doses start at 15 mg but there is evidence that some patients have a rise in serum sodium (Na) of >12 mmol/l per 24 h in response to this. Lower initial doses (7.5 mg) may therefore be appropriate1,2.Methods: A retrospective case note audit was performed. T...

Aims: To evaluate the prevalence of depression and anxiety in adult outpatients with diabetes and identify the correlation with diabetes management behaviours and clinical outcomes.Methods: Cross-sectional analyses were performed on 142 diabetic patients (type 1 diabetes n=67, type 2 diabetes n=60) attending outpatient clinic. Depression and anxiety were evaluated using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2) and the General Anxiety Di...