The challenge of writing a text for the medical curriculum at the beginning of the twenty-first century is not one to be under-estimated.

There are currently many different texts on endocrinology (some running to two or even three volumes), not to mention those restricted to diabetes mellitus or the more specialized areas of endocrinology. Many of these are edited multi-author works with up to 160 chapters. In addition, there are a number of slimmer volumes, often of the brief ‘lecture note’ variety for the student requiring only the ‘essentials’. A number of these contain clinical cases or illustrative clinical vignettes, though these are usually adjuncts at the ends of chapters.

The style and approach of this book is not conventional. We set ourselves the task of producing a book in which actual clinical cases seen in recent years are integral to the text. The challenge of doing this in 8 chapters was entirely self-imposed. However, it reflected our existing integrated teaching style, the practical realities of clinical medicine (in which patients rarely fit completely into neat chapters) and our belief that the subject of endocrinology is best taught with an integrative rather than a divisive approach. We have attempted to avoid undue use of acronyms, eponyms, abbreviations and clinical jargon and have made extensive use of boxes to summarize information and to illustrate fundamental scientific and clinical principles. These are not only essential to the text but will hopefully provide useful summaries for revision purposes.

We regard it as an experimental text, based on the quirks of nature that give us clinical diseases. The majority of the material exists physically as a book. Further reading matter (including clinical case-based problems, references to pertinent reviews and multiple-choice questions) exists in a flexible and easily up-datable form on the BIOS website. It is anticipated that additional material will be added to the website if the approach is well-received. We hope that this approach is educative, but more than that we hope it is enjoyed.

It is impossible to acknowledge all the friends and colleagues who have contributed in various ways to this book as it developed. We would, however, particularly like to thank: Dr Philip Wilson for help with the histological illustrations; Drs Juliet Britton, Jane Adam, Sisa Grubnic and Rosemary Allen for help with radiological illustrations; Professor Alan Johnstone and Drs Guy Whitley, Helen Mason, Lindsay Bashford, Assunta Albanese, Murray Bain and Caroline Brain for helpful discussions and advice; the enthusiastic and energetic members of the clinical team, particularly Dr. Gul Band; Dr Asjid Qureshi for help in designing the website material; the many unnamed students and other colleagues who gave helpful advice throughout the preparation; finally, the patience of our families.