ESPE Abstracts

Background: Graves’ disease (GD) is almost always the cause of hyperthyroidism in children. Studies carried out for recent years confirm an important role of T regulatory cells (Tregs) in the development of autoimmune diseases. However, the interactions between T-cell response and Treg proliferation in GD is still poorly understood.Objective and hypotheses: The aim of this research was the assessment of the in vitro proliferation of Treg ce...

Background: We evaluated 12 months follow-up of thyroid function in patients who underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) during childhood and adolescents.Methods: We studied 83 hematologic-malignancy patients (46 boys and 37 girls, acute lymphoblastic leukemia=25, acute myeloid leukemia=51, chronic myelogenous leukemia=7) who underwent HSCT between January 2006 and December 2011.The mean age at HSCT was 9.78±4...

Background: Subclinical hypothyroidism (SH) is defined as an elevated serum concentration of TSH when serum free thyroxine (fT4) concentration is within its reference range. Impaired myocardial contractility in overt hypothyroidism and left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction in adults with SH as well as beneficial effects of thyroid hormone replacement on systolic and diastolic functions in adults with SH has been documented, however the presence of similar alte...

Background: The development of fetal thyroid gland and its function in fetus and newborn are influenced by maternal iodine supplementation and maternal disorders of thyroid gland. Pregnant and lactating women are considered a risk group, although the Czech Republic ranks among countries with sufficient iodine supply. In case of maternal iodine deficiency, fetus is more susceptible to other factors influencing fetal thyroid gland development and function and also its neurologic...

Background: The results of several studies suggest that vitamin D could possibly decrease the risk of autoimmune diseases.Objective: To evaluate the efficiency of the vitamin D in adolescents with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT).Methods: The study included 32 adolescents (aged 12–17 years, mean age was 14.4±1.3 years) with HT (normal range TSH, fT3, fT4 and elevated antibodies). HT was diagnosed on...

Background: The recommended capillary TSH cut-off level for neonatal screening for congenital hypothyroidism (CH) in the UK is 10 mIU/l. However several of the regional screening laboratories have adopted lower cut-off limits in order to increase detection sensitivity. There is now pressure to standardise the UK screening programme with universal adoption of the recommended cut-off. Scotland has been using a cut-off of 8 mIU/l since the adoption of AutoDELFIA TSH screening met...

Background: Treg cells are characterized by expression of Foxp3 molecule that serve as keys in the maintenance of peripheral tolerance and in controlling the immune response. The exact role of Treg cells in the pathogenesis of CAT has not been recognized yet.Objective and hypotheses: It is suggested that vitamin D is one of the factors that can regulate the function of Treg cells. In this study, the relationship between Treg cells (levels and expression)...

Background: T3-P-GD, a severe, rare disorder well known in adults, has not previously been described in children. It is characterized by persistently high serum fT3 concentration and normal, or even low, fT4 concentration during drug treatment. This condition is associated with very high titers of TRAb and large goiters, but its pathogenesis remains unclear. The recognition of this form of GD in children is of particular importance, as higher antithyroid ...

Background: Autoimmune encephalopathy is usually reported in patient with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis and in Graves’ disease is rather rare, especially in children.Method: We report a boy of 15 years diagnosed with Graves’ disease and treated ineffectively with thyrostatics. After 2 years of the therapy he had recurrence of hyperthyroidism and underwent radical treatment with ablative dose of 131I. After 2 weeks the patient suffered...

Background: Subtle impairments in the thyroid function of pregnant women are associated with poorer scores on mental developmental scales in their children at age 2–3 years, and with reduced performance in a simple reaction time test at 5–6 years. However, associations with school performance estimates have never been studied.Objective and hypotheses: We aimed to assess the effect of normal variation in the maternal thyroid function during earl...

Background: Distribution of TSH levels is not normal. This is due to physiological changes that cause temporary increases in TSH during physiological events. Several methods are used to normalize the distribution when defining normal limits.Objective and hypotheses: To compare the normal limits defined by three normalization methods vs non-normalized distribution based on a large cohort with no known thyroidal illness.Method: Data ...

Background: Thyroid function in preterm infants is often altered for various reasons. LBW or VLBW newborns frequently present a particular form of congenital hypothyroidism (CH) characterized by low FT4 and delayed TSH elevation. The incidence of this disease is 1:250 for VLBW babies and 1:1589 for LBW newborns. In this condition, neonatal screening based solely on TSH can miss the diagnosis, therefore some screening programs have proposed to repeat the screening te...

Background: Screening for congenital hypothyroidism (CH) in the Russian Federation started in 1994. A survey was conducted in 1994 on the basis of 32 laboratories, and since 2007 newborn screening is being carried out in 79 laboratories of 83 regions of the Russian Federation.Objective and hypotheses: To study the prevalence of CH in Russia and in different regions of the Russian Federation.Method: Official statistics on CH screeni...