Endocrine Abstracts

Severe hypercalcaemia poses a real threat of end organ damage mainly to the kidney and the skeleton. While an accurate diagnosis of the cause of the severe hypercalcaemia is important for effective management, initial treatment often has to be instituted before all tests are completed. The kidney is pivotal in this respect since it is the only way in which the body can excrete an unwanted calcium load. Hypercalcaemia impairs renal function by reducing GFR and also by causing n...

With limited UK health resources and a drive to minimise risk of hospital-acquired infections, there is continual striving to reduce length of stay for all in patient procedures. Increasing numbers of elective surgical procedures are carried out as day cases. Many centres adopt minimally invasive parathyroidectomy (carried out as a day case) as the preferred treatment for primary hyperparathyroidism and there is pressure to minimise post-operative length of stay following thyr...

Familial benign hypocalciuric hypercalcaemia (FHH) is a lifelong, benign, inherited condition with slightly increased levels of plasma calcium, low urinary calcium excretion, and normal to moderately elevated plasma parathyroid hormone (PTH). In most cases, FHH (type-1) is caused by inactivating mutations in the gene encoding the calcium sensing receptor (CASR) expressed in the parathyroids and the kidneys. The estimated prevalence of FHH is 1 in 78 000 compared with that of p...

Screening is expected to diagnose and treat early stage disease in the hope of deriving survival benefits with decreased iatrogenic morbidity. This model is little argued for malignant disease but triggers intense debate for primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT).Despite an estimated incidence of 20/100 000 persons-years, relatively small numbers of patients undergo parathyroidectomy yearly. In the USA, over 75% of subjects are observed without parathyroid s...