ESPE Abstracts

Background: Adrenal cortical carcinoma (ACC) in children is rare and aggressive, with the mainstay of treatment being surgical resection, although there have been recent improvements in outcomes with chemotherapy. Further characterisation of the presenting features and biochemical markers are needed to support earlier diagnosis. Refractory hypertension related to high cortisol concentrations prior to surgery, and post-operative decrease in cortisol can be chal...

Background: Premature adrenarche (PA) is defined as the appearance of pubic and/or axillary hair in girls younger than 8 years old and caused by the rise in adrenal androgen production including dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), and androstenedione (A4). DHEAS≥40 µg/dL is accepted as the biochemical marker of adrenarche. However, adrenals also produce 11-oxygenated C19 androgens such as 11β-hydroxyandrostene...

Introduction: Exposure to chronic stress and hypercortisolism is associated with decreased leukocyte telomere length (LTL), a marker for accelerated biological aging and cardiovascular disease. Children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) are treated with glucocorticoids. The aim of our study was to investigate LTL in children with CAH and its relation with CAH subtype, daily glucocorticoid dose and treatment quality.Method...

Background: Adrenal insufficiency is a severe condition, which occurs for numerous different reasons. Diseases often require a period or even a lifelong treatment of cortisone and/or mineralocorticoid. Ensuring that families of patients who suffer from adrenal insufficiency have a high level of understanding and knowledge of the disease from the outset is key to them comprehending the severity of the disease, which in turn increases the chances of good complia...

Introduction: Compelling evidence suggests that Primary Aldosteronism (PA) is much more prevalent than previously thought, accounting for more than 20% of patients with resistant hypertension. Although, major advances have been made in the field of genetics underpinning sporadic and familial forms of PA, the etiology of mild forms of PA is poorly understood. In previous studies, we identified a distinct cohort of patients without PA who exhibited ACTH-dependen...

Background: Tissue sensitivity to glucocorticoids is characterized by significant inter-individual variation in terms of therapeutic response and susceptibility to several stress-related disorders. Proteomics approaches, combined with appropriate bioinformatics analysis, offer a comprehensive description of molecular phenotypes with clear links to human disease pathophysiology.Objective and Hypotheses: To investigate the usefulness of pl...

Initially discovered in the 1970s, the C21 steroidal acids α-cortolic acid, β-cortolic acid, α-cortolonic acid and β-cortolonic acid present the terminal oxidative products of cortisol metabolism. Undergoing renal elimination, these cortoic acids have been assumed to represent up to 25% of total urinary cortisol metabolites. However, their analysis has been difficult, only few data has been published in adults, and this class of steroids has beco...

Due to the increase in prevalence of childhood obesity, more obese children are referred to the endocrinologist for the hypothalamus-hypophysis-adrenal axis assessment. The circadian rhythm (CR) of cortisol in saliva (SAF) may constitute a non-invasive, first line test to exclude hypercortisolism on obese children.Aim: To evaluate possible disturbances of CR of SAF in obese children with clinical signs of hypercortisolism.<p class="a...

Introduction: The etiology of hyperandrogenism is diverse and diagnosis is based on history, clinical findings, reliable measurement of steroid hormones and genetic analyzes. In the electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) method, the presence of various endogenous compounds and the use of certain pharmaceutical agents may cause interference in results, on the other hand liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method allows measurement of 17 adr...

Background: >There is a wide variation in the reported rate of acute adrenal insufficiency (AI) related adverse events (sick day episodes and adrenal crises) between centres.Objective: Evaluate the level of consensus on the criteria that should be considered ‘essential’ for defining and managing adverse events associated with acute AI in children.Methods: Three groups of ...