ESPE Abstracts

Background: Bone involvement is described as a relevant sign in patients suffering Gaucher disease (GD).Objective and hypotheses: To analyze the long-term effect of enzyme replacement therapy on bone mineral density, a retrospective observational study was conducted in a cohort of 34 GD pediatric patients (14 males, 20 females, median age 11.3 years).Method: Lumbar spine (LS) (L2–L4, N: 34) and total body (TB) (N: 24) bone min...

Background: Growth is a multifactorial process involving genetic, nutritional and other environmental determinants. Because of a major proportion of ultimate stature is dependent upon an intact GH and IGF1 axis, much attention has been devoted to abnormalities related to these growth factors and their signalling pathways.Objective and hypotheses: At the tissue level, the action of GH result from the interaction of GH with a specific cell surface GH recep...

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: α-klotho is a transmembrane protein which can be cleaved and act as a circulating hormone. Since low α-klotho levels were found in organic GH deficiency (GHD) and high levels in acromegaly, an interaction between α-klotho, GH and linear growth has been suggested.Objective and hypotheses: We investigated the role of α-klotho protein as a reliable marker of GH secretion in short children and the factors influencing its secre...

Background: Primary adrenal insufficiency (PAI) is a rare life-threatening disorder. Data on PAI in children are scanty, with the exception of Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (CAH) due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21OHD).Objective and hypotheses: Evaluate etiology of PAI in a large cohort of children and characterize clinical presentation in subjects with PAI not due to 21-OHD.Method: Children followed in eight tertiary centers wer...

Background: Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) has been linked to papillary cancer in adults but not in children and adolescents. Moreover, there is no agreement on the more appropriate frequency of thyroid ultrasound (TS) in the follow-up of children with HT.Objective and hypotheses: The aim of the study was to investigate the incidence of thyroid nodules and of thyroid cancer in a large group of children and adolescents (567) with HT followed-up for a m...

Currently in Spain, treatment with GH is approved for hospital use with different formulations (JM), multidose vials (VM) and systems with electronic self-injection devices (DE). The long-term treatments, involves the lack of adherence to GH in pediatric patients, it has been estimated a lack of adherence between 5 and 82%. The main objective of this study is to perform a comparative analysis of costs and product loss among the different GH presentations approved in Spain in p...

Background: The nonclassic congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is often presented as isolated premature pubarche in childhood. Definitive diagnosis is genetic.Objective and hypotheses: To describe patients diagnosed in our hospital, clinical signs and laboratory results that lead to genetic study. To analyze adult height.Method: Descriptive retrospective study of our population with genetic confirmation.Resu...

Background: Lipodystrophies are a group of rare disorders characterized by varying degrees of body fat loss. The metabolic abnormalities associated with lipodystrophy include insulin resistance, often leading to diabetes mellitus, hypertriglyceridemia that may be severe enough to cause acute pancreatitis and hepatic steatosis that may lead to cirrhosis.They can be either genetic or acquired, generalized or partial. Acquired generalized l...

Introduction: Systemic Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (sJIA) is an autoinflammatory disease, characterized by the association of arthritis with fever, often accompanied by rash, generalized lymphadenopathy, hepatosplenomegaly, and serositis. The diagnosis requires adequate exclusion of infectious, autoimmune, autoinflammatory, and oncologic diseases. These patients need to be treated with glucocorticoids plus biologic drugs, anti-IL-1 or anti-IL-6 monoclonal an...