Abraham Lincoln

Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia (MEN) Syndromes – Mnemonic

This will help you keep the multiple endocrine neoplasia syndromes straight in your head:

  • MEN1: the number “1” in MEN1 should remind you of primary or prime number. MEN1 involves things that start with the letter P:
    • Pituitary adenoma
    • Parathyroid hyperplasia
    • Pancreatic islet cell tumors (gastrinoma, insulinoma, glucagonoma)
  • MEN2A: happens to involve the letter C (This is MEN2A, so there are two C’s in each item!):
    • Calcitonin (medullary carcinoma of the thyroid with elevated calcitonin level)
    • Calcium (parathyroid hyperplasia, which causes elevated calcium levels)
    • Catecholamines which are made in the chromocytes (as in pheochromocytoma)
  • Men 2B: B is for big (marfanoid habitus) and for belly problems (mucosal neuromas)

Here is a table to help drive home the key features of the multiple endocrine neoplasia syndromes:

Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Syndromes

Clinical presentation

  • MEN1
    • Hypercalcemia: brittle bones (fractures, due to osteoporosis), kidney stones, abdominal moans (abdominal pain), and psychiatric overtones (confusion).
    • Treatment-resistant peptic ulcer disease (gastrinoma) or hypoglycemia (insulinoma).
  • MEN2A
    • Hypercalcemia: brittle bones (fractures, due to osteoporosis), kidney stones, abdominal moans (abdominal pain), and psychiatric overtones (confusion).
    • Elevated catecholamines: severe, treatment-resistent hypertension (particularly paroxysmal in nature, with headaches, palpitations, and diaphoresis).
  • MEN2B
    • Marfanoid habitus
    • Mucosal neuromas on lips, tongue and eyelids.
    • Note that Abraham Lincoln was said (apocryphally?) to have been marfanoid, and he clearly was one of the great “men to be” (MEN2B)!
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln

References

  • Board Basics (2012, reviewed here)
  • The Merck Manual for Health Care Professionals (accessed 6/9/2013)
  • John G. Sotos MD (2008), The Physical Lincoln

Comments

26 responses to “Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia (MEN) Syndromes – Mnemonic”

  1. Moa'bite Avatar

    Amazing mnemonics! Thank you because I have always found difficulty in remembering the constituents of each type! 🙂

    1. Mark Yoffe MD Avatar
      Mark Yoffe MD

      I am glad that you found it helpful.

      I think I made it up while in medical school. I then forgot the mnemonic, and somehow recalled it after a few months of intermittent effort. :-).

  2.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    I’ve always gotten these confused and other mnemonics have always been too complicated. Thanks so much for your simple mnemonic! It’s so helpful.

    1. Mark Yoffe MD Avatar

      I am glad it helped you!

      I try to avoid memorizing complicated mnemonics. My philosophy is, if you end up needing to remember more as a consequence of the mnemonic, then you are doing it wrong!

  3.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Thankyou it is amazing to find it easy to be remembered now.

    1. Mark Yoffe MD Avatar

      You’re very welcome. I am glad this helped!

  4.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Thnx..its gr8 help

    1. Mark Yoffe MD Avatar

      You are very welcome. I’m glad this helped!

  5. Wilson Avatar
    Wilson

    Wonderful!!!!
    A great help in Endocrine.
    Thanks, mate.

    1. Mark Yoffe, MD Avatar

      You are very welcome, Wilson. I am glad to help. I have yet to see one of these in clinical practice, but it show’s up on exams all the time!

  6. Bushra Avatar
    Bushra

    Words can’t describe how truly appreciative I am of this. Thanks alot for sharing

    1. Mark Yoffe, MD Avatar

      You are very welcome, Bushra. I am really glad to help!

  7. Michele G. Avatar
    Michele G.

    You have no idea how this has helped. Just couldn’t remember. Gracias! Merci! Dziekuje!

    1. Mark Yoffe, MD Avatar

      You are very welcome, Michele. I am so glad to have helped!

  8. Pranav Sopory Avatar
    Pranav Sopory

    Mark, you are great!!

    1. Mark Yoffe, MD Avatar

      Thanks for the kind comment, Pranav. Always happy to help co-learners.

  9. edmund Avatar
    edmund

    this is really helpful.. thanks a lot

    1. Mark Yoffe, MD Avatar

      I’m glad to help, Edmund. Best of luck!

  10. AB Avatar
    AB

    Great mnemonic! Thanks! Just want to point out there’s a typo in your table for MEN2B. It says “MEN2A” in that third column.

    1. Mark Yoffe, MD Avatar

      You’re very welcome, and thank you so much for bringing the typo to my attention!

      I just fixed it!

  11. Anzz Avatar
    Anzz

    Thank u sir,for making MEN so easy:-D loved the mnemonic..

    1. baby Avatar
      baby

      The mnemnic can help a lot during exam to reduce anxiety

    2. Mark Yoffe, MD Avatar

      You are very welcome. I’m happy to help!

  12. Dr R M Mukhopadhyay Avatar
    Dr R M Mukhopadhyay

    Multiple endocrine neoplasia was one of the very important topics in recent advance Pathology in 1985 when we were pg examinees . Thanks for reminding this interesting subject with the updates.

  13. MedStudent Avatar
    MedStudent

    Thank you! This really helped a lot!

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