International multicenter survey on screening and confirmatory testing in primary aldosteronism

OBJECTIVE

Primary aldosteronism (PA) is one of the most frequent causes of secondary hypertension. Although clinical practice guidelines recommend a diagnostic process, details of the steps remain incompletely standardized.

DESIGN

In the present SCOT-PA survey, we have investigated the diversity of approaches utilized for each diagnostic step in different expert centers through a survey using Google questionnaires. A total of 33 centers from 3 continents participated.

RESULTS

We demonstrated a prominent diversity in the conditions of blood sampling, assay methods for aldosterone and renin, and the methods and diagnostic cutoff for screening and confirmatory tests. The most standard measures were modification of antihypertensive medication and sitting posture for blood sampling, measurement of plasma aldosterone concentration (PAC) and active renin concentration by chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay, a combination of aldosterone-to-renin ratio with PAC as an index for screening, and saline infusion test in a seated position for confirmatory testing. The cutoff values for screening and confirmatory testing showed significant variation among centers.

CONCLUSIONS

Diversity of the diagnostic steps may lead to an inconsistent diagnosis of PA among centers and limit comparison of evidence for PA between different centers. We expect the impact of this diversity to be most prominent in patients with mild PA. The survey raises 2 issues: the need for standardization of the diagnostic process and revisiting the concept of mild PA. Further standardization of the diagnostic process/criteria will improve the quality of evidence and management of patients with PA.

Recurrent cavernous sinus thrombosis: a rare complication of Cushing disease

A 14-year-old girl who presented in 2017 with headache, unilateral right eye ptosis and secondary amenorrhoea had an initial workup consistent with non-functioning pituitary macroadenoma. She underwent debulking of pituitary tumour in October 2017. Postoperatively, she developed recurrent cavernous sinus thrombosis. In view of recurrent thrombosis, she was reinvestigated and was found to have adrenocorticotropic hormone-dependent Cushing. Follow-up MRI 1 year after initial presentation showed that there was structural recurrence of pituitary macroadenoma. She subsequently underwent a petrosal craniotomy for debulking of tumour. Postsurgery she remained biochemically Cushingnoid. MRI 5 months after second surgery showed an enlarging pituitary mass which was deemed inoperable. A multidisciplinary meeting discussion consensus for treatment included radiotherapy and somatostatin analogue, pasireotide. She completed 30 cycles of radiotherapy and MRI post radiotherapy showed reduction in the size of the macroadenoma. Currently, she is waiting for pasereotide initiation.

Lessons of the month: Not just morning sickness

A 34-year-old woman (gravida 4; para 3) at 17 weeks of pregnancy presented with abnormal behaviour for 3 weeks associated with difficulties in walking. She had been admitted 2 months prior with hyperemesis gravidarum and was also diagnosed with thyrotoxicosis. Vomiting and poor oral intake persisted after discharge. She was euthyroid otherwise. Clinical examination revealed a dehydrated and confused patient. She had nystagmus and ataxic gate. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain showed symmetrical signal changes of posteromedial part of thalamus. A diagnosis of Wernicke's encephalopathy (WE) was made and intravenous thiamine was given leading to gradual improvement of symptoms. Her thyroid function test normalised without any treatment. WE can occur in severe hyperemesis gravidarum. Prompt recognition of WE and replacement with thiamine is important to prevent neurological sequelae and mortality. Gestational transient thyrotoxicosis, which is self-limiting, is more prominent in patients with hyperemesis gravidarum and requires only symptomatic treatment.

Effects of Movement Control Order (MCO) During Covid-19 Pandemic on Patients With Diabetes Mellitus (DM) in Malaysian Tertiary Centers

Introduction: The Malaysian government implemented MCO or lockdown for nearly 3 months from 18 Mar to 9 Jun 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This restricted access to usual food, workplace, and leisure sports, and also led to reduced clinic attendance. The effects of MCO on patients with chronic lifestyle diseases like DM is unknown. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study exploring effects of MCO on adult (>18 years) DM patients (both Type 1 and Type 2) attending endocrinologist-run DM clinics in 3 tertiary centres in Malaysia. Glycaemic and metabolic parameters were collected through medical record review while data on healthcare utilisation, dietary and lifestyle habits before MCO (17 Nov 2019 to 17 Mar 2020) and during MCO were collected by investigator-administered questionnaires during routine clinic follow-up after the MCO period (10 Jun to 30 Oct 2020). Results: From a total of 207 patients (56.5% female, 73.4% T2D and 80% on insulin) no significant difference between mean (SD) A1c [8.6(2.39) % vs 8.4(2.14) %; p=0.073] or BMI [29.2(7.57) vs 29.4(9.23)kg/m²; p=0.968] were seen before and during MCO respectively. More than 95% of the patients attended clinic before MCO and at least 20.3% saw either the DM nurse educator, DM pharmacist or dietitian. In contrast, during MCO only 31.4% of patients attended clinic and less than 10% had face-to-face consultation with the DM support team. More patients also reported missing insulin (11.6% vs 7.7%) and not checking blood glucose (17.9% vs 15.5%) during MCO. Before MCO, 61.8% of patients had home-cooked food daily. During MCO this increased to 83.1%. However, there was a trend towards unhealthy eating during MCO. Patients reported eating more frequently with those eating more than 4 meals a day nearly tripled during MCO (18.4% vs 6.8%). In addition, 22% of patients recalled consuming more confectionary; a similar percentage also reported higher consumption of processed food like dry snacks, canned food and instant noodles during MCO. Mean (SD) hours of sleep [6.8 (1.35) vs 7.2 (1.73) hours; p<0.001] and screen time [3.3 (2.51) vs 4.51 (3.10] hours, p< 0.001) increased significantly during MCO compared to before. Notably, before MCO 44% of patients reported no exercise and this increased to 65.7% during MCO. Conclusion: Despite reduced clinic attendance and contact with the DM support team, there were no consequent significant change in A1c or BMI of our DM patients from the 3-month MCO in our short term study. However, a worrying increase in sedentariness and unhealthy eating existed. The imperative need to conduct work or lessons online, among others contributed to the inevitable rise in screen time and reduced physical activity. As the pandemic continues with imposed movement restrictions, the long-term implications of MCO to metabolic health warrant our attention. Innovative strategies to promote healthier living during MCO are urgently needed.

Diabetes emergencies around Ramadan study (DEARS) - A multi-center study of diabetes emergencies admitted before, during and after Ramadan in Malaysia

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this study was to determine admissions for diabetes emergencies among patients who fasted or planned to fast one month before, during and one month after Ramadan 2019 in public hospitals in Malaysia.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This was a cross sectional prospective study done in 18 public hospitals in Malaysia from 7/4/2019 to 2/7/2019. Data was collected prospectively with universal sampling. All adult Muslim patients with previous diagnosis of diabetes, who were admitted for hypoglycemia, DKA or HHS were included if they had fasted and had intentions to fast.

RESULTS

295 admissions for diabetes emergencies were analyzed. The pre-Ramadan period recorded the highest number of admissions (119) followed by during (106) and post-Ramadan (70). Admissions for hyperglycemic emergencies accounted for 2/3 of total admissions. 37% of admissions for hypoglycemia occurred during pre-Ramadan period compared to 32.1% during Ramadan. Contributing factors included use of sulphonylurea (59.6%), presence of nephropathy (54.5%) and past history of hypoglycemia (45.5%). Admissions for DKA were more common than HHS (119 versus 77) and highest during Ramadan period (36.1%). Most of the admissions for hyperglycemic emergencies were among those with Type 2 diabetes (75.9% for DKA and 97.4% for HHS). Only 31.5% of patients admitted for diabetes emergencies recalled having received Ramadan advice in the past.

DISCUSSION

Admissions for diabetes emergencies were highest during pre-Ramadan period followed by Ramadan and post-Ramadan period. This suggests that fasting during Ramadan does not increase admissions for diabetes emergencies.

The DAR 2020 Global survey: Ramadan fasting during COVID 19 pandemic and the impact of older age on fasting among adults with Type 2 diabetes

OBJECTIVES

The DAR Global survey of Ramadan-fasting during the COVID-19 pandemic aimed to describe the characteristics and care in participants with type 2 diabetes (T2D) with a specific comparison between those <65 years and ≥65 years.

METHODS

Participants were consented to answer a physician-administered questionnaire following Ramadan 2020. Impact of COVID-19 on the decision of fasting, intentions to fast and duration of Ramadan and Shawal fasting, hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia events were assessed. Specific analysis comparing age categories of <65 years and ≥65 years were performed.

RESULTS

Among the 5865 participants, 22.5% were ≥65 years old. Concern for COVID-19 affected fasting decision for 7.6% (≥65 years) vs 5.4% (<65 years). More participants ≥65 years old did not fast (28.8% vs 12.7%, <65 years). Of the 83.6%, participants fulfilling Ramadan-fasting, 94.8% fasted ≥15 days and 12.6% had to break fast due to diabetes-related illness. The average number of days fasting within and post-Ramadan were 27 and 6 days respectively, regardless of age. Hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia occurred in 15.7% and 16.3% of participants respectively, with 6.5% and 7.4% requiring hospital care respectively. SMBG was performed in 73.8% of participants and 43.5% received Ramadan-focused education.

CONCLUSION

During the COVID-19 pandemic, universally high rates of Ramadan-fasting were observed regardless of fasting risk level. Glycemic complications occurred frequently with older adults requiring higher rates of acute hospital care. Risk stratification is essential followed by pre-Ramadan interventions, Ramadan-focused diabetes education and self-monitoring to reduce and prevent complications, with particular emphasis in older adults.

Hyperandrogenism caused by ovarian Leydig cell tumour: finding the needle in a haystack

Leydig cell tumours (LCTs) of the ovary are rare ovarian tumours that usually present with hyperandrogenism. Conventional radiological imagings are helpful in localising these tumours. However, some tumours may be too small to be localised before curative surgical removal. It is important to identify these androgen-secreting neoplasms which originate mostly from adrenals or ovaries because they are potentially malignant and require specific treatment. When conventional imagings are unrevealing, selective ovarian and adrenal venous sampling (SOAVS) is the next option. We report a case of LCT that was localised by SOAVS after results from other imaging modalities remained inconclusive.

MON-653 The Effects of DPP IV Inhibitor on Glycemic Variability in Type 2 Diabetic Patients Treated with Twice Daily Premixed Human Insulin

Glycemic variability (GV) is emerging as an exciting therapeutic target for diabetes mellitus (DM) with recent evidences showing association of GV with hypoglycemia risk as well as chronic complications.(1,2) Twice daily human premixed insulin is commonly used in developing countries and Asia for treatment of type 2 DM (T2DM). (3) While more convenient and cost saving, human premixed insulin regime may increase GV due to lesser flexibility and less physiological pharmacokinetic profile. Dipeptidyl peptidase IV inhibitors (DPPIV-I) have been shown to improve GV when used for treatment of T2DM but the effects of DPPIV-I when added on human premixed insulin is limited. We therefore evaluated the changes in GV following addition of DPP IV-I among T2DM patients treated with premixed human insulin with or without metformin therapy. This was a prospective study involving adult patients with T2DM on stable doses of premixed human insulin with or without metformin for at least 3 months from two state hospitals in Malaysia. Blinded continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) were performed at baseline and following 6 weeks of adding Vildagliptin to their insulin regime. A total of 12 patients were recruited (50% male). Mean (SD) age was 55.8 (13) years with mean duration of disease of 14 (6.6) years. The addition of Vildagliptin significantly reduced GV indexes including SD 2.98 (1.17) to 2.33 (0.82), p=0.017; MAGE 6.94 (2.61) to 5.72 (1.87), p=0.018; MAG 1.60 (0.76) to 1.23 (0.48), p=0.009 and M Value 13.96 (13.01) to 6.52 (7.45), p=0.037. In addition there were improvements in terms of parameters for glycemic control. Time spent in optimal glycemic range (4-8 mmol/l) improved from 38.33 (19.69) to 58.17 (5.95) %, p=0.001 with reduction in AUC for hyperglycemia from 2.09 (1.73) to 1.06 (1.09) mmol/day, p=0.010. Hypoglycemia events were infrequent and the reduction in time spent in hypoglycemia [5.92(9.74) to 1.91 (2.54)%, p=0.191] as well as AUC for hypoglycemia [0.03(0.54) to 0.01(0.02) mmol/day, p=0.163] were found although these did not reach statistical significance. We concluded that addition of DPP IV-I to commonly prescribed twice daily premixed human insulin regime in patients with T2DM may improve GV and glycemic control and warrant further exploration.

References

(1) Gerry Rayman. Glycaemic control, glucose variability and the triangle of diabetes care. Br J Diabetes 2016;16(Suppl1):S3-S6

(2) Boris P. Kovatchev. Metrics for glycaemic control - from HbA1c to continuous glucose monitoring. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2017 Jul;13(7):425-436

(3) Kalra S, Balhara YP, Sahay BK, Ganapathy B, Das AK. Why is premixed insulin the preferred insulin? Novel answers to a decade-old question. J Assoc Physicians India. 2013 Jan;61(1 Suppl):9-11

SAT-377 Case Series of Ectopic Parathyroid Gland

The prevalence of mediastinal parathyroid adenoma is unknown. Embryological origin and more extensive aberrant migration of the parathyroid glands result in ectopic glands found in the mediastinum. We report herein 4 cases of ectopic parathyroid adenoma causing primary hyperparathyroidism from three public hospitals in MalaysiaCase 1.A 70 year old lady with underlying diabetes mellitus, hypertension, chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura and liver cirrhosis presented with incidental asymptomatic hypercalcemia during an admission for pneumonia. Her blood results revealed high corrected calcium of 2.93 mmol/L (2.02-2.60) and a low phosphate of 0.66 (0.81-1.45) mmol/L with an unsuppressed intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) of 14.56 pmol/L (1.6-6.9). She had an equivocal urinary calcium excretion ratio of 0.01. Her bone mineral density confirmed severe osteoporosis at distal radius and neck of femur with a Tscore of -3.6 and -3.1 respectively. A hyperfunctioning ectopic parathyroid gland was seen in the Technetium Sestamibi scan which corelates with a mediastinal lymphadenopathy on CECT. The largest node measured 1.6 x 1.2 cm. Parathyroid gland was confirmed on HPE of the video-assisted-thoracoscopic surgical (VATS) excision of the mediastinal mass. Intraoperative iPTH (ioPTH) serially reduced from 8.87 to 1.94 to 1.03 pmol/L and she maintained a serum calcium levels of 2.4 mmol/L post surgery. She did not require any calcium or vitamin D supplementation. Case 2. A 36 year old male presented with generalized body weakness secondary to hypokalemia. His calcium was 3.07 mmol/l, phosphate 0.64 mmol/l and iPTH 11.53 pmol/L. Increase Technetium uptake seen at mediastinum. Post operatively, calcium normalized and remained stable 1 year later. Case 3.47 year old female presented with acute gallstone pancreatitis complicated with a pancreatic pseudocyst. She was found to have hypercalcemia of 2.77 mmol/L, phosphate 0.70 mmol/l and iPTH 21.87 pmol/L. Sestamibi scan revealed hyperfunctiong parathyroid tissue posterior to the left thyroid lobe and in the mediastinum. She is awaiting surgery. Case 4.Another asymptomatic 47 year old male who has history of post Radioactive-iodine hypothyroidism had an incidental finding of serum calcium of 2.69-2.84 mmol/L, phosphate 0.71-0.91 mmol/L and iPTH 9.89 pmol/L with urinary calcium excretion ratio of 0.019. His Sestamibi scan showed uptake at the superior mediastinum. Ectopic parathyroid gland is rarely encountered. With the advent of Technetium-Sestamibi scintigraphy, ectopic parathyroid adenoma can be localized easily. However, surgery poses a challenge due the location of the adenoma which may occasionally be near large vascular structures in the mediastinum. The availability of intraoperative PTH aids the decision for surgical exploration and completion.

MON-LB129 A Pilot Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) on Primary Aldosteronism Patients in a Multi-Ethnic Malaysian Cohort

Studies on excised aldosterone-producing lesions have found somatic mutations in five genes (KCNJ5, CACNA1D, ATP1A1, ATP2B3, and CTNNB1) commonly causes the excess aldosterone production. Interestingly, Oriental cohorts had the highest frequency of KCNJ5 mutations whereas CACNA1D mutations were most common in Black African Caribbean patients, suggesting that genetic background affects the prevalence and distribution of aldosterone-driving somatic mutation. We therefore aimed to identify the common germline variants that associates with excess aldosterone production through performing a pilot genome wide association study (GWAS) on primary aldosteronism (PA) patients. GWAS was performed using the Human Infinium OmniExpressExome-8 v1.4 BeadChip containing 960,919 markers to compare gDNA of 154 PA patients with 78 healthy controls. Samples were checked for sex discordance, heterozygosity rate, missing rate and the degree of recent shared ancestry for each pair of individuals using the PLINK program and Genome Studio (Illumina). In total, 150 patients and 75 controls (112 males and 113 females) were included in the downstream analysis. 630,749 markers that passed quality control steps (missing call rate <95% and minor allele frequency in controls >1%) were used to perform association analysis using the Chi-square Test which was then subjected to multiple testing corrections (Bonferroni correction). As expected with a pilot sample size, no variants passed the suggestive significant threshold of Bonferroni corrected P-value < 5 x 10^-6 (-log10 P = 5.3). However, 27 SNPs had the uncorrected P-value<0.0002, odds ratio >2, and differences of frequencies in cases compared to control >0.1 or <-0.2, of which 3 genes (SRGAP3, AUTS2, and RORA) associated with these SNPs were also highlighted in the UK Biobank database of 72 patients with primary aldosteronism (https://biobankengine.stanford. edu/coding/HC189). Of these, RORA has recently been found to be down-regulated in adrenals from PA patients and spontaneously hypertensive rat adrenals compared to control adrenals^a,b. RORA encodes for the protein retinoic acid receptor (RAR)-related orphan receptor alpha, a member of the NR1 subfamily of nuclear hormone receptors (NR1F1). Interestingly, adrenal is the second organ to skin with the highest expression of RORA and treatment of angiotensin II in the adrenocortical cell line H295R increases RORA expression^c,d. Taken together, this pilot GWAS highlights RORA as a potential nuclear hormone receptor that regulates aldosterone production.

References

^aChu et al., Int J Clin Exp Pathol 2017;10(9):10009-10018. ^bTanaka et al., Hypertens Res 2019;42(2):165-173. ^cNogueira et al., Mol Cell Endocrinol 2009; 302(2): 230–236. dGTEx Analysis Release V7 (dbGaP Accession phs000424.v7.p2)

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education Grant (FRGS/1/2015/SKK08/UKM/02/3), The National University of Malaysia (UKM) University Grant (GUP-2016-083), and The UKM Medical Center Fundamental Grant (FF-2016-302).

Preserved glucagon-like peptide-1 responses to oral glucose, but reduced incretin effect, insulin secretion and sensitivity in young Asians with type 2 diabetes mellitus

OBJECTIVE

Youth onset type 2 diabetes mellitus (YT2DM) is a globally rising phenomenon with substantial Asians representation. The understanding of its pathophysiology is derived largely from studies in the obese African-American and Caucasian populations, while studies on incretin effect are scarce. We examined the insulin resistance, β-cell function (BC), glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 hormone and incretin effect in Asian YT2DM.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

This case-control study recruited 25 Asian YT2DM and 15 healthy controls, matched for gender, ethnicity and body mass index. Serum glucose, insulin, C peptide and GLP-1 were sampled during 2-hour oral glucose tolerance tests (OGTTs) and 1-hour intravenous glucose tolerance tests (IVGTTs). Insulin sensitivity was derived from the Quantitative Insulin Sensitivity Check Index (QUICKI), Oral Glucose Insulin Sensitivity Index (OGIS) in OGTT and surrogate index of SI from the minimal model (calculated SI, CSI). Acute insulin response (AIR) was obtained from IVGTT. Total BC was computed as incremental area under the curve of insulin/incremental area under the curve of glucose, during OGTT (BC_OG) and IVGTT (BC_IV), respectively. Disposition index (DI) was calculated using the product of insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion. GLP-1 response to oral glucose was calculated as incremental area under the curve of GLP-1 (ΔAUC_GLP-1). Per cent incretin effect was estimated as 100×(BC_OG-BC_IV)/BC_OG).

RESULTS

The YT2DM had marked impairment in BC (>80% reduction in AIR and BC_OG, p<0.001) and lower QUICKI (p<0.001), OGIS (p<0.001) and CSI (p=0.015) compared with controls. There was no difference in GLP-1 at all time points and ΔAUC_GLP-1 but the per cent incretin effect was reduced in the YT2DM compared with controls (12.1±8.93 vs 70.0±4.03, p<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Asian YT2DM showed similar GLP-1 response to oral glucose as controls but reduced incretin effect, BC and insulin sensitivity. The lack of compensatory mechanisms, as shown by the DI may be partly ascribed to the impaired incretin effect, similar to that of adult T2DM.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

NMRR-12-1042-13254.

Severe hypertriglyceridemia in a nondiabetic treated with low dose insulin infusion

We report a case of a 54-year-old man with severe HTG which did not respond to conventional anti lipid therapies. He was treated with intravenous insulin and concurrent dextrose infusions which led to a dramatic reduction in serum triglyceride levels.