ESPE Abstracts

Background: Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is a common condition that occurs in ~1:3000–4000 live births and is one of the most common preventable cause of mental retardation with an early diagnosis and prompt pharmacological treatment. Neonatal screening has abolished this disease but 10% of children originally diagnosed with CH will have a transient form of the disorder and this percentage is increased during the last years due to a lowering of cut-off.<p class="abs...

Background: Erythrocytosis is characterized by increased number of red blood cells. Primary form is also known as polycythemia vera, while secondary forms can be due to several causes, among which hyperandrogenism. Although the association of severe hyperandrogenism and polyglobulia is known, literature data concerning this comorbidity are overall scanty, and completely lacking in pediatric age.Case report: We report the history of a 14 years-old girl ad...

Introduction: Lysosomal Acid Lipase Deficiency (LAL-D) is a rare and systemic condition, secondary to LIPA gene mutations, responsible for lysosomal accumulation of cholesterol esters and triglycerides. Clinical manifestations are heterogeneous in terms of age of onset, severity and biochemical and radiological findings. Dyslipidemia, hepatomegaly and hepatosteatosis with hypertransaminasemia are the most common features. There is significant evidence of incre...

Background: in general population Hurthle cell cancer (HCC) accounts for 3-7% of all differentiated thyroid cancers (TC) with a more aggressive course, while its relative prevalence and behavior in childhood is uncertain due to the lack of specific literature reviews.Objective: to describe the largest pediatric HCC cohort to date reported and to estimate its relative prevalence among TC variants in childhood.<p c...

Insulinoma is a rare neuroendocrine tumor, usually benign, but can be life-threatening in causing hypoglycemic accidents. It presents in individuals aged between 8 and 82 years and can occur sporadically or constitute a part of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN-1).The nonspecific-symptoms and small size of these tumors led to difficulties of diagnosis and localization.Here we describe the case of a 11-year-old boy, who came to our attention for a ...

Turner syndrome (TS) patients are at risk for a constellation of neurocognitive and psychosocial diseases. TS is associated with an increased risk for difficulties with visual–spatial reasoning, visual–spatial memory, attention, executive functioning, motor, and math skills. Additionally, increased rates of social difficulties, anxiety, and depression are observed.Here we report the case of a 16-years-old Caucasian girl who came to our attentio...

Background: Differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) in pediatric age might have peculiar course and prognosis.Objective and hypotheses: To compare clinical, biochemical and ultrasound (US) features at diagnosis, histological grading and outcome in two groups of children and young adults with DTC.Method: Clinical, biochemical and imaging characteristics of 63 patients with DTC, diagnosed between 1999 and 2014 in our hospital, were retro...

Background: Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT) in childhood may present with either euthyroidism (52.1% of cases), or primary overt hypothyroidism (22.2%), subclinical hypothyroidism (19.2%), overt hyperthyroidism (3.5%), or subclinical hyperthyroidism (3%). In a large series of 608 children and adolescents with presenting HT, we found in no cases a biochemical picture with low free thyroxine (FT4) and normal or low-normal TSH serum levels, i.e. a thyroid pattern tha...

Introduction: Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) are heterogeneous groups of irreversible adducts resulting from non-enzymatic glycation and glyoxidation of proteins, lipids, and nucleic acid. AGEs and its cell receptor RAGE have been involved in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Interaction of AGEs with RAGE results in an increased generation of oxygen radicals and increased expressions of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Circulating soluble AGE rec...

Background: Cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD; MIM 119600) is a rare congenital autosomal dominant skeletal dysplasia characterized by hypoplastic or aplastic clavicles, late closure of the fontanelles, open skull sutures, dental anomalies, moderately short stature and a variety of other skeletal features. CCD is caused by mutations, deletions or duplications in the runt-related transcription factor 2 gene (RUNX2), which encodes for a protein essential for osteoblast differentiatio...