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The Society’s Thyroid Endocrine Network (which we call ‘Thyronet’ for short) aims to:

•  act as a catalyst for collaborative thyroid research
• interface with the Society’s Clinical Committee
• advise the SfE Programme Committee
• suggest topics for guideline development.

One of our first priorities has been to establish communication channels between Network members. We now have a JISCMail account ([email protected]), a Twitter account and a Facebook page (Society for Endocrinology Thyroid Network).

GRANT SUCCESS

In May 2016, we were awarded a Society grant for a thyroid-focused Regional Clinical Cases Meeting. It took place in Cambridge last October, and was an innovative, interactive and popular event that attracted trainees and consultants and received excellent feedback.

In addition, the British Thyroid Foundation awarded us a grant at the end of 2015 to look at 10-year survival and recurrence rates for patients with differentiated thyroid cancer by disease stage. Preliminary data for a cohort diagnosed in 2002 so far indicate 2% disease-specific mortality at 10 years and 6% recurrence rates for patients with differentiated thyroid cancer, 50% of whom had stage II–IV disease.

We have also submitted a successful application for a Clinical Endocrinology Trust grant, led by Bijay Vaidya, on anti-thyroid drug-induced agranulocytosis.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

We are about to conduct a survey to assess the clinical experiences of Network members regarding the recent price increase in liothyronine (tri-iodothyronine, T₃) and how this has affected clinical practice. May 2017 will see the British Thyroid Association’s annual meeting, and we are working closely with them to finalise the programme for the Trainee Day component of this event. The Network has also submitted suggestions to the Programme Committee for the Society for Endocrinology BES conference in November 2017.

Network members have made suggestions for a number of national observational studies, including projects on myxoedema coma, thyroid storm and one-stop thyroid nodule clinics, which we aim to implement in the next 12 months. We also plan a ‘brainstorming’ meeting, to prioritise research proposals, and we hope to formulate at least one prospective clinical study and one basic/translational proposal and submit these to funding sources.

The Network welcomes new members. Please get in touch if you are interested.

Petros Perros & Carla Moran

Network Leads

Find out more on our Endocrine Networks page or contact [email protected].