Thursday May 11, 2006

Doc scores with thyroid project

CHICAGO: Malaysian doctor Dr Khoo Teck Kim of Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, received the third place Poster Session Award at the congress of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.

Dr Khoo presented a study in collaboration with Dr Claire Baker, Dr Haitham S. Abu-Lebdeh and Dr Robert Wermers, showing that parathyroid hormone (PTH) may be suppressible in primary hyperparathyroidism.

“This is certainly a pleasant surprise as there were many high quality presentations at the conference,” said Dr Khoo.

In his study, Dr Khoo demonstrated how PTH could be undetectable when diagnosing primary hyperparathyroidism, especially when other contributing causes to hypercalcemia (elevated calcium level) were present.

The study concluded that repeated PTH and serum calcium levels should be considered when the initial laboratory evaluation of hypercalcium was unclear, especially when secondary contributing factors could cause changes in calcium metabolism.

Dr Khoo’s poster presentation was peer reviewed and awarded by the AACE panel of judges out of 58 fellows.

One hundred and ninety-nine abstracts were submitted to the 2006 AACE Poster Presentation, of which 171 were accepted.

AACE is a professional medical organisation with more than 5,300 members in the United States and 85 other countries.

Founded in 1991, it is dedicated to the optimal care of patients with endocrine problems.

The first prize went to Dr Mia Chavez Fojas of the Philippines for Complications and Cardiovascular Risk Factors Among Newly-Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetics in Manila.

Dr Peter Joseph Mazzaglia, of Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, was second for his work on The Changing Presentation of Hyperparathyroidism Over Three Decades.

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