ESPE Abstracts

Children diagnosed with adrenocortical tumors (ACT) have variable prognosis depending on disease presentation at diagnosis. Available therapeutic options render excellent outcome for a subset of patients, but limited improvement in the survival of those diagnosed with non-localized/advanced disease. ACT DNA methylation was recently demonstrated to be a robust and independent prognostic biomarker. Aiming to identify potential therapeutic targets for these children, we compared ...

Background: The ‘External Masculinization Score’ (EMS) is an objective method of scoring undervirilized genitalia in infants but may require further adaptation to capture the appearance of the genitalia more comprehensively across the phenotypic spectrum.Objective: To develop and validate a non-binary, standardized score that describes the range of appearance of external genitalia.Method: The external genitalia score (EGS...

Background: The majority of children diagnosed with idiopathic isolated growth hormone deficiency (IIGHD) show a normal growth hormone (GH) secretion (assessed by GH stimulation tests) when retested at near adult height (NAH). It appears plausible that if normal stimulated GH secretion is observed in mid-puberty, continuing recombinant human GH (rhGH) treatment may only have a minor effect on NAH. The effect on NAH has never been investigated in a prospective ...

Background: In boys with suspected delayed puberty, serum testosterone is used for the evaluation of gonadal function. It is known that early in puberty testosterone levels show a sleep wake rhythm, with nocturnal levels increasing ahead of daytime levels. To evaluate the onset of puberty, the use of salivary testosterone would be an appealing alternative to serum analysis as it is non-invasive and allows multiple nocturnal sampling. Moreover, it is thought that salivary testo...

Background: Inappropriate management of illness/stress, accidental or deliberate insulin omission are some of the causes of Diabetes ketoacidosis (DKA) in patients with established diabetes. During illness, patients with type 1 diabetes are advised to monitor for hyperglycaemia and ketosis, maintain fluid intake and if required, to administer supplemental insulin. Previous studies have confirmed that comprehensive diabetes self- management education (DSME) programs on manageme...

Background: Patients with Turner Syndrome (TS) are at high risk for congenital heart disease (CHD), aortic dilatation and dissection with increased mortality and morbidity. Thoracic gadolinium-enhanced MRI angiography allows clear imaging of all great vessels and revealed a spectrum of silent vascular anomalies (VA), both venous and arterial, undetected at Echocardiography.The aim of this study is to retrospectively evaluate the prevalen...

Background and aim: Children with premature adrenarche (PA) have often tall stature, advanced bone maturation, and a tendency to be overweight. It has been speculated that PA may lead to unfavourable outcome, including obesity-related metabolic disturbances, but the data on long-term outcome of PA are insufficient. The aim of this work was to describe adult body composition in young females with a history of PA.Subjects and design: This prospective case-...

Introduction: Childhood obesity is known to be associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular and metabolic complications in adulthood.Objectives: To evaluate precocious cardiovascular sonographic modifications in a cohort of overweight (OW) and obese (OB) children and adolescents brought to Outpatient Clinic of Pediatric Endocrinology for first evaluation, compared with normal weight controls. 2) To investigate the association between clinical and ...

Purpose: Patients with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) show low fitness levels before GH treatment is started. Muscular strength, flexibility and postural stability are related to health and quality of life. Since it is widely recognized that physical activity increases GH secretion and GH could ameliorate fitness, if a high adherence to treatment is documented (1), the purpose of this study is to investigate any difference on posturographic parameters and mus...

Background: overexpression of the oncogene Yes-associated protein 1 (YAP1), a Hippo pathway target, associates with increased cell proliferation in some human cancers. There is not data on adrenocortical tumors (ACT). YAP1 is a potential target of Wnt/β-catenin pathway, which plays an important role in ACTs.Objective and hypotheses: to evaluate the role of YAP1 and its interaction with the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in ACT.Met...