Endocrine Abstracts

Background: The plasticity of adrenal cortex suggests the presence of adrenocortical stem cells (ACSC) but the exact in vivo identity of ACSC remains elusive. A few studies have demonstrated the differentiation of adipose or bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) into steroid-producing cells. We therefore investigated the direct isolation of MSC from human adrenal cortex.Methods: Adrenals were obtained as discarded surgical material. S...

Although TIH is a well-established complication of this drug class, the extent of this problem and the serious morbidity that can result is often not appreciated. At our centre, we became aware of three serious cases of TIH over a 2-week period during the ‘heat wave’ in July 2013. In at least one of these cases excessive water drinking was a clear precipitant. We therefore determined the incidence of TIH at our hospital and in particular whether there is a seasonal e...

We present the case of a 58-year-old woman who presented 30 years ago. She was noted to have abdominal obesity, moon-face and skin bruising/thinning, as well as hypertension. Serum cortisol was elevated and she was presumed to have Cushing’s disease (although we have no record of dynamic tests or imaging from the time of her original presentation). Owing to her desire for future fertility, she underwent bilateral adrenalectomy at the age of 31 years. She received hydrocor...

It is important for a specialist weight management service to provide a holistic patient-oriented assessment and treatment plan. To achieve this goal, we performed a service evaluation of the characteristics of patients with extreme and complex obesity attending a specialist weight management service. Anonymised data on 126 patients who attended the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust specialist weight management service were collected. The patients, with mean age 45.2±...

Purpose: To determine the risk of developing hypopituitarism after cranial irradiation for skull base meningiomas. Cranial irradiation is often chosen as first treatment in skull base meningiomas to avoid risk to proximally-located critical structures. While cranial irradiation has been associated with high risk of inducing hypopituitarism, few studies concern meningiomas.Methods and materials: Fifty-two adult patients receiving photon-beam therapyfor sk...

Medical treatment of adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is limited to common cytotoxic agents, which are usually given in combination with mitotane (M). Recently, we investigated together with M the effects of i) the classical EDP protocol (etoposide, doxorubicin, and cisplatin) and ii) a novel paclitaxel containing scheme PDP (paclitaxel, doxorubicin, and cisplatin) on human NCIh295 cells indicating anti-tumoral superiority of PDP-M over EDP-M regarding cell viability (P...

Background/introduction: SUB:Pituitary – Clinical (Generously supported by IPSEN)We have previously shown that GH assessment during a standardized aerobic exercise of moderate intensity is a reliable test with high diagnostic accuracy in predicting severe GH deficiency (GHD) in adult individuals. However, these studies comprised comparably long exercise durations around 60 min or longer. To improve clinical applicability of exercise testing in the diagnosis of GH...

Introduction: Vitamin D deficiency is increasingly being recognized as a metabolic disorder in temperate climates with various bone, cardiovascular and systemic manifestations. However topical, it is important to exclude tumour induced osteogenic osteomalacia as a possible aetiology in severe vitamin D deficiency when other risk factors (vegetarian diet, ethnicity, etc.) are absent. Early diagnosis of malignant tumors could be life saving and their resection may make this vita...

Background: Oral corticosteroids are a known risk factor for developing osteoporosis and subsequent fracture at higher bone mineral density than post menopausal osteoporosis. Bone loss is thought to be most pronounced in the first 12 weeks of steroid use, and existing guidelines recommend a fracture risk assessment and appropriate osteoporosis prophylaxis with calcium and vitamin D supplements and bisphosphonates. There is also a recognized role for FRAX scoring to help strati...

Introduction: Cushing’s syndrome(CS) is associated with high morbidity and mortality which warrants a good screening test that is less laborious. We explored the possibility of using urine spot cortisol:creatinine ratio (UCCR) as a new screening test for Cushing’s syndrome.Aims and objectives: To study the efficacy of UCCR as a screening test for patients with Cushing’s syndrome.To compare UCCR in patients with CS, o...