ESPE Abstracts

Background: Health professionals are increasingly aware that the acoustic environment in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit may affect infants’ well-being. Where unpredictable noise adversely affects sleep and physiologic stability, meaningful auditory stimulation might have positive effects, primarily in the short term. Furthermore, evidence is now emerging regarding beneficial long-term effects on neurodevelopmental outcomes. Notably, recent literature s...

Growth Hormone insensitivity (GHI) is characterized by short stature, GH resistance and IGF-1 deficiency. Classical GHI includes defects in the GH receptor and other genetic abnormalities downstream the GH cascade. Various short stature syndromes have phenotypes that overlap with GHI. This report discusses two cases of nonclassical GHI. Patient 1 is a boy with STAT3 gain-of-function syndrome (STAT3 GOF), characterized by immune dysregulation and growth failure. He developed ea...

Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) occurs in approximately 1:2000–1:3000 newborns in Italy. Lowering of the TSH cut-off was the most important factor contributing to the increase of CH incidence in Italy. The aim of this study is the determination of the prevalence of CH in northwest Sicily, evaluated by the single screening centre of the Children Hospital ‘G. Di Cristina’, ARNAS, Palermo. From January 2013 to December 2017, 79.699 newborns were screened testing TSH...

Background: Autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome type 2 (APS2) is a complex disorder characterised by the obligatory occurrence of Addison disease in combination with thyroid autoimmune disorder and/or type 1 diabetes. APS 2 is the most common autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome and is primarily manifest in adult age. Premature ovarian failure (POF) is defined as sustained amenorrhea before the age of 40 years, FSH levels higher than 40 UI/l and hypoestrogenism associated with infe...

We describe a 5 years-old patient referred to our centre for dysmorphic features and delayed psychomotor development. Negative family history, second child, full-term birth, eutocic delivery, regular growth parameters at birth and neonatal adaptation. Autonomous walking at 20 months with clumsiness; first words at 2 years with dysarthria and dysphagia. Brain MRI and array-CGH were normal. At the neurological examination: perioral hypotonia, sialorrhea, praxic difficulties. At ...

Background: Symptoms of hypocalcaemia in neonates are nonspecific, including irritability, fine tremors and seizures or sudden death due to arrhythmias. Transient hypoparathyroidism is common in the first days of life in preterm infants. Permanent hypoparathyroidism is primarily due to genetic or autoimmune factors, with post-surgery or infiltration-related forms being rare in pediatrics.Case Presentation: A baby was bor...

The transition phase is the period from the end of puberty until achievement of full adult maturity. We report the results from 45 patients with pituitary deficiency (15-24.9years), 28 (16males) with congenital insufficiency (G1) and 17 (10males) with acquired disease (G2), evaluated at the end of GH therapy. All cases had confirmed GH deficiency; 89.2 % of cases from G1 had multiple pituitary deficiencies (TSH 23/28, LH/FSH 19/28, ACTH 15/28 and Prolactin 3/28), 94.1 &#37...

CHOPS syndrome is a rare monogenic disorder caused by heterozygous gain-of-function variants in AFF4. The 13 patients reported to date share a highly recognizable phenotype: Coarse face, Cognitive impairment, Heart defects, Obesity, Pulmonary involvement, Short stature and Skeletal dysplasia. AFF4 encodes a scaffold protein involved in transcriptional elongation and critical for gene expression regulation during embryogenesis. Notably, it appears to regulate adipogenic differe...

Background: Paediatric Cushing disease (CD) is rare but can be severe. Diagnosis and proper management are often delayed and the course of disease is unpredictable. Support from experts in the field is essential.Objective and hypotheses: We present a male patient, diagnosed with Cushing syndrome elsewhere more than two years after his initial signs and symptoms. For 6 months he underwent numerous investigations, which were inconclusive and was left untre...

Background: The 5α-reductase-2 (5R2) deficiency is a rare 46, XY disorder of sex differentiation caused by mutations in the 5R2 gene. Diagnostic and clinical management is not well definite.Aims and objectives: To describe relevant features of 5R2 deficiency in a large sample.Methods: Retrospective records of persons with 5R2 deficiency were reviewed and clinical, endocrinological, genetic data analysed....