ESPE Abstracts

Case report: A 10-year-old Italian girl presented with a painless, hard swelling in left fronto-orbital region noted two years earlier. She had no headache or other symptoms; ophthalmologic evaluation revealed no signs of intracranial hypertension; the visual field showed a reduced level of sensitivity in the upper sector of the left eye.Her previous medical history was not relevant except for a mild head injury reported two years earlier. The girl was a secon...

SHOX haploinsufficiency (SHOX-D) is a cause of disharmonic short stature and a possible genetic cause of idiopathic short stature also in familial cases. We describe clinical, hormonal and genetic characteristics of patients with SHOX-D haploinsufficiency, followed and treated in the period 2014–2017, in a single Italian centre. The Rappold score was used to screen short children, to select those who needed a genetic analysis of SHOX gene by MLPA and sequencing. We select...

Background: Chromosomal imbalances are often due to sub microscopic deletions or duplications not evidenced by conventional cytogenetic methods.Objective and hypotheses: CGH array can help in the diagnosis of severe short stature, associated with mental retardation and dysmorphisms.Method: We describe the clinical case of a 13.1-year-old girl, born at 35 weeks, from a triplets pregnancy. She was 127.5 cm (<−5 SDS), 33 kg ...

Background: Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) has a high incidence, with a local increase in our screening relieves in the last years.Objective and hypotheses: An accurate follow up and an appropriate treatment guarantee an adequate neurological and auxological development.Method: We describe the personal report of 74 children (27 males and 43 females) with CH, diagnosed by neonatal screening and followed for 8.5±5.3 years.<p...

Background: Primary Addison’s disease (AD) is a rare endocrine condition, with reduced or absent secretion of adrenal hormones. Steroid replacement therapy normalizes endocrine assess and the quality of life. More than a half of patients display additional autoimmune conditions, which represent a considerable clinical concern.Objective and hypotheses: Antiparietal cells antibodies (APC-Ab) are commonly found in patients with autoimmune Addison’...

Background: Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT) is the most frequent acquired thyroid disease in childhood and adolescence. However it can evolve silently also for a long period, without signs and/or symptoms evocative of the diagnosis.Objective and hypotheses: A late diagnosis can reduce growth velocity, increase weight and particularly BMI, with an increased risk of obesity in pubertal age.Method: We analyzed 39 patients (age: 11.3±3...

Background: Genes in the HLA region confer about 50% of the genetic risk of type 1 diabetes (T1DM). More than 40 different genes give a minor contribution to T1DM risk, some of them are related to the immune function.Case presentation: A girl was referred at the age of 9 months with severe ketoacidosis in T1DM at onset. Anti-insulin autoantibodies were positive. She was the only daughter of unrelated Caucasian parents, born at term by vaginal delivery. T...

Introduction: Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) is an inherited auto-inflammatory disorder still extremely underdiagnosed in the Mediterranean area. The disease is secondary to a gain of function mutation of the MEFV gene, classically defined as “autosomal recessive”, with possible symptoms also in heterozygous patients. The mutation induces a hyperexpression of IL-1 beta and a chronic inflammation. Clinical manifestations are characterized by rec...

Objective: To evaluate the pancreatic reserve and metabolic control in our patient diagnosed of type 1 diabetes over the last 20 years.Method: Retrospective cohort study of all patients <15 years, diagnosed in our community between 01/01/1995 and 31/12/2014. Variables: gender, age at diabetes debut, age at study, c-peptide after stimulation with glucagon at debut and 1 month after, HbA1c at debut, 1 month, 1 year, 2 years, 5 and 10 years of debut. Co...

Introduction: Thyroid cancer is the most common pediatric endocrine cancer, constituting 0.5%–3% of all childhood malignancies. Cancer can be present in multinodular thyroid disease but the majority of malignant nodules are solitary. Thyroid malignancies in children are almost always well differentiated.Aim: Prevalence, clinical features, pathological profile and therapy of thyroid cancer in children.Patients and method: Retro...