Endocrine Abstracts

Aim : We compared the Hospital practice in the management of hyperthyroidism using radioiodine with the guidelines recommended by the working group of Royal College of Physicians and Society for Endocrinology. We also assessed the outcome of the treatment.Methods: All 51 consecutive patients (female - 47, male - 4) who had radioiodine treatment from Jan 1997 till Dec 1998 were included, among which 5 patients had two doses of radioiodine. All of them rec...

Thyroid lymphoma accounts for <5% of thyroid malignancies. Although it predominantly arises on a background of autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's thyroiditis), the mode of presentation, diagnosis and outcome are not well characterised.We retrospectively analysed 25 patients presenting with thyroid lymphoma between 1996-2002. Patients were predominantly female (84%) with a mean age of 65yrs and presented with a rapidly growing goitre. A previous h...

A 51 year old woman was referred for investigation of goitre. The patient described weight loss, sweating and hot flushes for 3 years. A bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy had been performed 14 years prior to presentation but the patient had been off HRT for 12 years.On examination the patient was thin, nervous and sweaty with a sinus tachycardia and a smooth goitre, but no signs of thyroid eye disease.Thyroid hormone levels were elev...

Apoptosis or programmed cell death, is a principal mechanism controlling the physiological development of most living organs by removing unwanted cells without inducing an inflammatory response. It is known that in autoimmune thyroid conditions such as Graves' disease, thyroid cells die by apoptosis. Dysregulation of pro- and anti-apoptotic gene expression may be critical to the induction of the destructive process via the activation of a sequence of caspases (proteases).<...

Background:TAO is a progressive autoimmune potentially sight-threating disease. Various medical interventions have been reported which have potencially serious side effects.The high-dose intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is known to have anti-inflammatory potential and it was used in pilot studies for patients with TAO. The aim of study : was to investigate the effect of IVIG on post-partum relapsed TAO and to test the some immunological parameters during and after therapy. Pa...

Experimental evidence suggests that leptin plays an important role in modulation of cell-mediated immunity in organ-specific autoimmune diseases. This longitudinal study evaluates changes in serum leptin values in relation to development and outcome of postpartum thyroiditis (PPT). Materials and Methods: Fifty postpartum (6 week) euthyroid women with elevated thyroglobulin (TgAb) and/or thyro-peroxidase (TPOAb) antibodies were investigated. Body mass index (BMI), serum leptin ...

Significant delays in follow up and institution of thyroxine replacement for patients developing post-radioiodine (RAI) hypothyroidism were revealed by a three year retrospective audit. To reduce the incidence of undiagnosed early hypothyroidism and lengthy waits between outpatient visits, a telephone clinic was introduced in August 2000. Thyroid function tests are checked at 3, 6, 9 and 12 weeks post-treatment. Results are checked weekly by a Specialist Registrar. Patients wh...