ESPE Abstracts

Background: GH has a strong positive influence on bone stimulating both bone elongation and increase in size by enhancing the accrual of trabecular and cortical bone up to the attainment of peak bone mass in young adult.Aim of the study: We compared the effect of two different GH dosages on statural growth and bone geometry in two groups of GH-deficient children at final height. Data has been collected retrospectively from 1994 to 2013.<p class="abst...

Background: Human GH is a heterogeneous protein hormone consisting of several isoforms, the most abundant being 22 kDa- and 20 kDa-GH. The availability of analytical methods to measure these GH isoforms might represent a valuable diagnostic tool to investigate GH secretion in short stature.Objective and hypotheses: Aim of the present study was to measure circulating levels of 22 kDa- and 20 kDa-GH in children with different diagnosis of short stature suc...

Background: Patients with childhood-onset GH deficiency (GHD) are usually retested in late adolescence or young adulthood, after achievement of final height, to verify whether they need to continue GH treatment. Most of the patients found to have idiopathic GHD when tested as children have normal GH responses when retested in the early or late adolescence. Indeed, the 2007 Consensus guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of GHD adults recommended that idiopathic GHD patien...

Introduction: Human growth is a multifactorial process involving genetic, hormonal, nutritional and environmental factors. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have shown that >400 genes are associated with adult height. African Baka Pygmies represent an isolated and well-confined small population with short stature of unknown etiology. In previous studies we reported an 8-fold reduced GH receptor gene expression and reduced serum levels of IGF-I and GHB...

Background and Aim: Multifaceted risk factors impair bone mass (BM) in childhood brain cancer survivors(CBCS). Aims of the study were to evaluate bone mass and it's determinant and fracture prevalence in CBCS 2(G+2), 5(G+5) or 7(G+7) years after off therapy (OT).Methods: Seventy-three(G+2), 87(G+5) and 66(G+7)CBCS were evaluated at 12,9±4,2, 14,9±4,4 and 16,6±4,4yrs, respectivel...

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: The incidence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is dramatically increasing among children worldwide. The gold standard for diagnosis is the liver biopsy. Reliable serum markers are lacking. Recently, circulating miRNAs have been studied as biomarkers of disease progression. Specifically, miR-122 was proposed as predictive marker for liver disease in adults, while no data are available for children.Objective and hypotheses: To inves...

Background: To evaluate the efficacy of thyroidectomy, it is necessary to know its complications; however, there is a great discrepancy in the literature regarding its incidence. A greater surgical aggressiveness achieves better control of the disease, but may be accompanied by more complications. Hypocalcemia is the most frequent potential complication after thyroidectomy, but its persistence can lead to serious systemic effects. The objective of this study i...

Introduction: Testicular adrenal rest tumor (TART) is the most important cause of infertility in male with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). TART is a benign tumor, mainly bilateral (75-80%), usually diagnosed in under-treated CAH male with hypercorticotropinemia, which generally regresses after glucocorticoids therapy adjustment. However, it may determine an irreversible damage by compression and toxic-paracrine effects on the surrounding testicular t...

Short stature is a frequent reason for referral to pediatric endocrinologists and this phenotype has been associated with a large number of gene variations during the last decades, highlighting its complex and heterogeneous etiology. We evaluated the detection rate of the analysis of a selected gene panel in a cohort of patients with short stature defined as height below -2 standard deviations (SD). Overall, 134 patients were included in the study: 73 with GH deficiency (GHD),...