ESPE Abstracts

Case presentation: A 7 year old boy was presented to us with height acceleration, symmetric breast development equivalent to Tanner stage B2 and sparse dark hair in the pubic region (PH2). Testicular volume equaled to 2ml, while external genitalia showed no clear signs of androgen effect. The patient’s biological father is a transgender woman who started a medical gender transition before the patient’s birth. She has been continuously receiving tra...

Introduction: Primary empty sella syndrome (ES) is rare in children. Reports relating it with various endocrine manifestations have been published. Asymptomatic cases have also been reported, this questions the existence of causal relationship.Objective: To analyze causal relationship between primary ES and endocrine manifestations in 15 pediatric cases seen in our clinics, and suggest patients follow-up.Population and methods: Ret...

Background: Short stature has several causes ranging from complex hormonal deficiencies mostly related to pituitary gland genetics, to idiopathic and environmental causes such as maternal smoking in pregnancy, etc. Floating harbor syndrome is a rare genetic disorder characterized by short stature, delayed bone age, mild to moderate mental retardation, retarded speech development, and typical facial dysmorphic features. The syndrome is caused by heterozygous mutations in exon 3...

Introduction: Elevated obesity prevalence among transgender individuals compared to cisgender control groups or general population have been reported in some studies. Whether there is a higher prevalence for obesity in transfeminine and transmasculine persons at different age groups has not yet been systematically studied.Methods: We performed a systematic literature search using Pubmed and Google Scholar. Following sear...

Background: Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) can present with salt loss, hyperkalemia and arrhythmias in the neonatal period. If CAH is not diagnosed and treated early, neonates are susceptible to sudden death in the first few weeks of life. This problem is particularly critical in boys who have no genital ambiguity to alert physicians before the onset of dehydration and shock.Objective and hypotheses: We recommend that a diagnosis of CAH be consider...

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common reproductive endocrinopathy in women of childbearing age, affecting 5–10% women in this age group. Its suggestive cardinal features are hyperandrogenism, ovulatory dysfunction and/or polycystic ovary appearance. The diagnostic gold standard tool is pelvic ultrasound (PUS) which may be limited in overweight and obese adolescent girls.Objective and hypotheses: To evaluate the contribution of pel...

Background: Loss-of-function mutations of the androgen receptor (AR) gene result in androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) in 46,XY individuals, causing a disorder of sex development. AIS has a clinical continuum according to the resistance severity, being classified into three main categories: complete (CAIS), partial (PAIS), and mild (MAIS). The authors present a female phenotype patient with CAIS.Case Report: An otherw...

The 5α-reductase deficiency type 2 is a rare autosomal recessive 46,XY disorder of sexual development (DSD), presenting with a wide clinical spectrum ranging from a male phenotype with hypospadias to a female phenotype with wolffian structures. Here we report about the clinical, hormonal and molecular characterization of two siblings with a mutation in the SRD5A2 gene, as well as the challenge of gender identity and the importance of psychosocial care. The older sibling ...

Background: Androgens are steroid hormones necessary for human sex development. Testosterone (T) and the more potent dihydrotestosterone (DHT) are maybe the best known androgens, which exert their effect by binding and activating the androgen receptor. Steroid reductases 5α (SRD5As) catalyse the conversion of T to DHT in the classic androgen production pathway, or from 17-hydroxyprogesterone to 17OH-dihydroprogesterone, and androstenedione to androstanedione in alternate ...

Background: Recent work revealed two pathways in androgen biosynthesis, namely the classic and an alternative, the backdoor pathway. In this alternative pathway dihydrotestosterone is produced from 17-hydroxyprogesterone without the intermediacy of testosterone using mostly enzymes that are specific to the backdoor path. In the human ovary, regulation of androgen production plays a crucial role in normal physiology and in pathologies such as the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS...