ESPE Abstracts

Background: The human foetal adrenal (FA) undergoes vast physiological changes as pregnancy progresses. Original descriptions of FA development emerged following morphometric studies from spontaneous/medical terminations. These revealed the greatest increase in FA size was during the first trimester. Recently, sonographic evaluation of human FA volume and length has led to the creation of normal FA growth centiles and correlations between FA size and estimated foetal weight (E...

Background: Monocarboxylate transporter 8 (MCT8) is a specific transporter of triiodothyronine (T3). MCT8 gene mutations cause a rare X-linked disorder known as Allan–Herndon–Dudley syndrome, characterized by thyroid dysfunction (high T3, low T4, and normal/high TSH) and psychomotor retardation.Case report: A 4-year- and 9-month-old boy, who was already having L-T4 treatment fo...

Maternal obesity is the most common metabolic disturbance in pregnancy affecting more than 1 in 5 women in some regions. Obesity has short term risks during pregnancy for both mother and child, with increasing evidence demonstrating that there are also longer term risks of these exposures in pregnancy impacting on health of the offspring across the lifespan. Consistent and increasing evidence demonstrates a range of adverse health outcomes for offspring born to mothers who are...

Background: Hypercalciuria, short stature and low bone mineral density are features of distal renal tubular acidosis (dRTA) and osteogenesis imperfecta (OI). If untreated, the presence of dRTA in patients with OI may worsen the prognosis and lead to poorer height outcomes. We describe two unrelated children with an unusual association between OI and dRTA.Cases: Patient 1 is a 7-year-old female diagnosed prenatally with a COL1A2 mutation and postnatally w...

Background: Obese children with and without Type 2 diabetes have periodontal disease that relates to systemic inflammation. There is limited data on periodontal disease in children with Type 1 diabetes (T1D).Aim: We aimed to assess periodontal disease markers and its determinants in children and adolescents with T1D.Materials and Methods: Cross-sectional study including 73 children...

Introduction: Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is the underlying diagnosis in most newborns presenting with 46,XX disorders of sex development (DSD). Cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase deficiency (PORD) is a rare form of CAH caused by inactivating mutations in the POR gene. POR is a crucial electron donor to all microsomal type 2 P450 cytochromes (CYPs), including 21-hydroxylase (CYP21A2) and 17alpha-hydroxylase (CYP17A1). The hallmark feature of PORD is combined sex-steroid a...

Primary Xanthomatous Hypophysitis (XH) is the rarest histological subtype of hypophysitis. Here we describe the case of a young 9-year-old girl diagnosed with this condition. The patient presented with a four-month history of an intermittent temporal-frontal headache that became gradually worse and constant for three days prior to admission. She did not have clinical signs or symptoms suggestive of increased intracranial pressure but had mild ataxia. On admission she was febri...

Metreleptin is a leptin analog used to treat metabolic complications of lipodystrophy, a set of rare disorders characterized by generalized (GL) or regional (PL) deficiency of adipose tissue, resulting in insulin resistance, diabetes, dyslipidemia, steatohepatitis, and reproductive dysfunction. Metreleptin increases fertility, particularly in GL; spontaneous pregnancy without metreleptin was reported in only 4 patients with GL. Risks of metreleptin suggested by rodent studies ...

Background: Klinefelter syndrome (KFS) is a sex chromosomal disorder characterised by hypogonadism, progressive testicular failure, gynaecomastia and learning difficulties. Genital anomalies are rarely observed in KFS. Androgen insensitivity has been previously postulated, but not proven to cause genital ambiguity in KFS. Androgen receptor (AR) gene defects are reported in AIS, but have not been reported in children with KFS with mild hypospadias. We describe a novel ...

Background: Permanent adrenal insufficiency (AI) is an uncommon but potentially life-threatening condition in children. Patients are at particular risk during times of stress. Thus, caregivers should have good illness management skills. Despite frequent teaching and seemingly good knowledge of illness management we still see a reluctance of caregivers to administer intramuscular (IM) hydrocortisone at home when indicated, preferring instead to drive themselves...