Variations in clinicopathologic characteristics of thyroid cancer among racial ethnic groups: analysis of a large public city hospital and the SEER database.

Background: Clinicopathologic variables influence the treatment and prognosis of patients with thyroid cancer.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of public hospital thyroid cancer database and the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results 17 database was conducted. Demographic, clinical, and pathologic data were compared across ethnic groups.

Adrenocorticotropic hormone stimulation test during high-dose glucocorticoid therapy.

Objective: To define the effective time frame of adequate serum cortisol response to the short standard 250-microg adrenocorticotropic hormone stimulation test (ACTH-ST) after initiation of high-dose glucocorticoid therapy in order to assist in the diagnosis of adrenal insufficiency.

Methods: We performed an ACTH-ST at 4 different times in hospitalized patients, who had a documented intact hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and were receiving high-dose dexamethasone therapy for nonendocrine diseases, to determine the time until the serum cortisol response is compromised. The ACTH-ST was performed at the following time intervals after initiation of dexamethasone therapy - 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours.