All subjects
Endocrine
Hypothalamic-pituitary axes, thyroid, adrenal and diabetes with feedback-loop reasoning.
Exam weight 5–7% · 2 QBank items · 4 flashcards
Pituitary
- Prolactinoma: amenorrhea, galactorrhea, low libido; treat with cabergoline or bromocriptine before surgery.
- Acromegaly: elevated IGF-1 is the screening test, confirm with failure of GH suppression on oral glucose; treat with surgery then octreotide.
- Sheehan syndrome: postpartum pituitary infarction — failure to lactate then other axis failures.
- Central diabetes insipidus responds to desmopressin; nephrogenic does not — lithium and hypercalcemia are common causes.
Thyroid
- Graves disease: TSI antibodies, diffuse goiter, exophthalmos and pretibial myxedema from fibroblast stimulation.
- Hashimoto thyroiditis: anti-TPO, Hürthle cells and germinal centers, risk of thyroid lymphoma.
- Subacute (de Quervain) thyroiditis follows a viral illness with a painful gland and raised ESR — self-limited.
- Papillary carcinoma is the most common with Orphan Annie nuclei and psammoma bodies; medullary secretes calcitonin and appears in MEN2.
Adrenal
- Cushing syndrome workup: confirm with late-night salivary cortisol or dexamethasone suppression, then use ACTH to localise.
- Primary adrenal insufficiency has hyperpigmentation and hyperkalemia; secondary does not (aldosterone is preserved).
- Conn syndrome: hypertension with hypokalemia and metabolic alkalosis; high aldosterone-to-renin ratio.
- Pheochromocytoma: episodic headache, sweating, palpitations; plasma metanephrines, α-blockade with phenoxybenzamine before β-blockade.
Diabetes & metabolism
- Diagnose diabetes with HbA1c ≥ 6.5%, fasting glucose ≥ 126, 2-hour OGTT ≥ 200, or random ≥ 200 with symptoms.
- DKA occurs in type 1 with ketones and anion-gap acidosis; hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state in type 2 without significant ketosis.
- Metformin is first line — lactic acidosis risk in renal failure; SGLT2 inhibitors cause genital mycotic infection and euglycemic DKA.
- MEN1: parathyroid, pituitary, pancreas; MEN2A: medullary thyroid, pheochromocytoma, parathyroid; MEN2B swaps parathyroid for mucosal neuromas.