ESPE Abstracts

Background: The short synacthen test (SST) is a popular diagnostic investigation for adrenal insufficiency (AI). Cannulation and blood sampling are required making it invasive, time-consuming and resource-intensive. Salivary cortisol is a well-established alternative to serum sampling.Objective and Hypotheses: To develop a non-invasive alternative to the 1 μg SST, using a novel formulation of Synacthen (with a nasal drug enhancer, chitosan) given na...

Background: Congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI) is a rare condition but a significant cause of recurrent hypoglycaemia in infancy and childhood. Prompt recognition and appropriate management is important to avoid long-term neurological sequelae.Objective and hypotheses: To describe the presentation, clinical and genetic outcomes in a series of infants with CHI.Method: Retrospective case series of 35 patients diagnosed with CHI between...

The development of obesity begins early in life. From our large observational studies we know that the age between 3-6 years appears critical for development of obesity in children and once established, childhood obesity regularly persists into adulthood leading to premature morbidity and even mortality. In addition to the mere expansion of fat mass with developing childhood obesity, there are alterations in adipose tissue function such as adipocyte hypertrophy, inflammation a...

Background: Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) causes early-onset extreme obesity and hyperphagia that is hypothesized to arise from leptin receptor dysfunction. Setmelanotide, a melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) peptide agonist, has been shown to induce weight loss in individuals affected by other rare genetic obesity disorders resulting from leptin-melanocortin pathway dysfunction upstream of MC4R.Objective: Report preliminary data on body weight, hunger scores,...

Introduction: Classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21OHD) is a rare, autosomal disorder characterized by deficiency of cortisol and oftentimes aldosterone, elevated adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), and excess androgen production. In a phase 2 study of adolescents with classic 21OHD, 14 days of treatment with the corticotropin-releasing factor type 1 receptor (CRF1) antagonist, crinecerfont, led to median percent red...

Family-based behavioral treatment (FBT) is the recommended intervention for children with obesity (OB). However, there is a large variability in short- and long-term treatment response and mechanisms for unsuccessful treatment outcomes are not understood. We studied brain regions involved in satiety processing in 9-11-year-old children with obesity (OB, n=54) and children with healthy weight (HW, n=22). Subjects underwent a functional magnetic resonan...

Introduction: Worldwide the Short Synacthen Test (SST) is the most popular diagnostic investigation for adrenal insufficiency (AI) amongst both paediatric and adult endocrinologists. Cannulation and blood sampling are required making it invasive, time-consuming and resource-intensive. We have previously validated a reliably absorbed and well tolerated formulation of nasal synacthen (Nasacthin003) in healthy adult males, measuring the glucocorticoid response in salivary cortiso...

Introduction: Salivary androgens represent a non-invasive marker of puberty that may have utility in population studies as well as in the clinical arena.Objectives: To establish normal reference values of salivary androgens using LC-MS/MS and demonstrate the correlations between salivary androgens and pubertal development in boys.Methods: School-based adolescent cohort study with t...

Background: Several symmetric monogenic overgrowth syndromes with tall stature have been described, which is why children with syndromic tall stature should undergo comprehensive diagnostics. Tall stature has not been associated with chromosome 1.Objective: To present height growth and diagnostics in two male siblings with extreme tall stature and moderate mental retardation. Both had a deletion of ASH1L at chro...

Introduction: Disorders of sex development (DSD) constitute a group of congenital conditions that affect urogenital differentiation and are associated with chromosomal, gonadal and phenotypic sex abnormalities.Objective: To evaluate clinical and genetic features of childhood DSD cases.Materials and Methods: DSD patients followed up between the years of 1981-2018 were evaluated in t...