ESPE Abstracts

Background: Multiple daily injections of insulin for children and young people with diabetes can be very daunting and, some have a phobia of needles. As a result, for some individuals, the use of an i-port device can be life-changing and help with their diabetes management. The i-port is an injection port that enables diabetes patients to administer their insulin without having to puncture their skin multiple times in a day. In most cases, the i-port can stay ...

Pituitary gigantism is a rare disorder caused by excess of GH/IGF-1 due to GH-secreting lesions, that occurs before epiphyseal closure leading to increased linear growth. These cases have more aggressive features of pituitary disease than sporadic acromegaly, including a younger age at disease onset and larger tumor size, and they can be challenging to treat. Over the past two decades several molecular defects that cause GH-secreting pituitary adenomas have been identified, in...

Early life events can profoundly affect an individual's metabolic phenotype, inducing adaptive responses that may be protective in utero but potentially disadvantageous for long-term health. Indeed, environmental cues during sensitive windows of development may result in altered growth and lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular and metabolic alterations later in life. In this talk, I will discuss several models of exposure to early life events, which were the top...

Calcium and phosphorus represent the main building material for bone and growth plate mineralization and bone stiffness. The supplier of these bone minerals is the hormone calcitriol, which originates from vitamin D, itself made by sunshine in human skin. Requirement for bone mineral supply is highest during phases of rapid growth, such as during pregnancy, infancy and puberty. The body can be deprived of calcium either through low dietary calcium intake and/or low vitamin D. ...

For decades, the dominant conceptual framework for understanding short and tall stature was centered on the GH-IGF-I axis. However, recent findings in basic molecular and cellular biology and in clinical genetics have uncovered a vast array of other regulatory systems that control skeletal growth and an accompanying vast array of genetic defects outside the GH-IGF-I axis that can cause disorders of linear growth. As a result, the traditional view of short or tall stature that ...

Background: Hematocolpos is a rare condition in young girls that can be caused by imperforated hymen or vaginal agenesis. It is usually diagnosed at early puberty with cyclic abdominal pain and amenorrhoea. Menarche is usually observed two years after the start of puberty; sometimes pre-menarcheal bleeding can occur, ranging from isolated premature menarche to spotting in course of puberty. In case of imperforated hymen or vaginal anomaly, a pre-menarcheal uterine bleeding can...

Congenital adrenal insufficiency is a potentially life-threatening condition that can present soon after birth in many different ways. The classic presentation is a salt-losing crisis due to mineralocorticoid insufficiency, often between a week and two of life, but babies with predominant glucocorticoid insufficiency can present with other features such as prolonged jaundice, hypoglycaemia and hyperpigmentation. Most children with congenital adrenal insufficiency present to em...

Background: Children with different growth disorders need therapy with recombinant human GH. Although mostly therapy leads to good results there are clinical cases when the therapy is not working. One of the reasons is patient’s and patient’s family’s adherence. That’s why it is necessary to explore what are the adherence and its impact on therapy’s outcome. Growth disorders can make an influence to all humans’ life, that’s why if it is possi...

Background: Diabetes insipidus (DI) is characterised clinically by the inappropriate production of large volumes of dilute urine even in the presence of clinical dehydration or deprivation of water. DI occurs either due to a deficiency or insufficiency of arginine vasopressin (AVP) hormone production. Hereditary DI accounts for <10% of the DI cases. As hyponatraemic seizures secondary to inappropriate use of desmopressin can occur, caution is required before a diagnosis of...

Background: The integration of technology in health care has led to improved medical care and better compliance, especially in chronic diseases such as diabetes. Despite these advances, compliance has always been an issue in caring for adolescents with diabetes. Text messaging has become a popular way to communicate with peers especially for teens. Multiple studies support the theory that texting is an easy and affordable resource that health care providers can utilise to educ...