ESPE Abstracts

Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) occurs in approximately 1:2000–1:3000 newborns in Italy. Lowering of the TSH cut-off was the most important factor contributing to the increase of CH incidence in Italy. The aim of this study is the determination of the prevalence of CH in northwest Sicily, evaluated by the single screening centre of the Children Hospital ‘G. Di Cristina’, ARNAS, Palermo. From January 2013 to December 2017, 79.699 newborns were screened testing TSH...

Objectives: To evaluate the potential diagnostic role and sensitivity of T2-weighted DRIVE sequence in pituitary stalk (PS) identification and measurements in patients with hypothalamic-pituitary disorders. The degree of agreement and reliability between standard pre- and post-contrast T1-weighted images and T2-DRIVE will be tested in a large group of patients with pituitary dysfunction.Design: We searched for pituitary MRI reports using ‘T2-DRIVE&#...

Background: Vaptans, vasopressin receptor 2 antagonist, are used in adults to treat hyponatremia associated with congestive heart failure, cirrhosis, and the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone (SIADH). To date, in paediatric patients with SIADH there are few data about use of vaptans, still considered off-label.Case presentation 1: A 9-yo female with surgically treated suprasellar astrocitoma developed chronic hyponatremia (121–128 mmol/...

Objective: Neonatal hyperthyroidism is a severe but generally transient condition with a 2% prevalence in offspring of mothers affected by Graves' disease. It is caused by the transplacental passage of maternal anti-thyrotropin receptor stimulant antibodies (TRABs). Here we report the cases diagnosed at our centre between 2015-2019 in order to re-evaluate the diagnostic and therapeutic approach to this challenging neonatal thyroid alteration.<p cla...

Objectives: Preterm infants often present CH characterized by delayed TSH elevation. We describe the clinical and biochemical features and the evolution of CH in preterm infants with delayed TSH elevation, detected by the second screening for CH.Material and Methods: All preterm infants born between 2007 and 2014 negative to the first screening (b-TSH<10 mcU/ml) at 2–5 days of life and positive to the second screening at 12–33 days (b-TSH&#...

Background: Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) and methimazole (MMI)-induced toxic hepatitis are both rare diseases in pediatric age.Case presentation: We present the case of a 15-year-old girl affected by idiopathic arthritis and autoimmune thyroiditis. The autoimmune thyroiditis was diagnosed at 13 years of age. At 15 years old she developed hyperthyroidism (TSH <0.01 mcU/ml, FT4 2.3 ng/dl, FT3 8.4 pg/ml, TRAb 18 IU/l) and was treated with MMI (0.28 mg/kg ...

Background: A high risk of congenital hypothyroidism (CH) has been documented in multiple pregnancies. Over the years special screening procedures for preterm and twin babies (re-screening at 2–4 weeks of life) have been adopted by many screening laboratories worldwide. However, no extensive studies have been performed to verify how many co-twins with negative test at first screening (3–5 days of life) become positive at re-screening, and the utility of a long-term f...

Background: Neonatal screening strategies revealed an increase in hypothyroidism associated with an in-situ thyroid gland due to TSH receptor (TSHR) mutations. While there are many genetic and functional studies regarding TSHR mutations, few are found concerning the clinical course and long-term outcome of TSH resistance involving the pediatric population.Objective and hypotheses: To determine the impact of TSHR mutations on clinical course, biochemical ...

Background: The impact of prematurity on skeletal health later in life is not well elucidated.Objective and hypotheses: In order to address this topic we evaluated bone mass in ex-preterm (PT) and born at term (BT) prepubertal children and potential risk factors for bone health.Method: DXA measures of total body less head and lumbar spine mineral density (TB/L1-L4 BMD, g/cm2 and z-score), bone mineral content (T...

Background: Severe congenital growth hormone deficiency (cGHD) is a rare but potentially life-threatening condition. Even though random growth hormone (GH) can confirm cGHD during the first week of life, the diagnosis remains extremely challenging in the absence of reliable reference values in healthy neonates and thus of a best diagnostic cut-off.Aims: First, to provide solid reference values for GH concentrations in te...