ESPE Abstracts

Central hypothyroidism can be best defined as lower than desirable thyroid hormone production and secretion because of insufficient stimulation of a normal thyroid gland by a defective pituitary or hypothalamus, resulting in a too low plasma or serum (free) thyroxine (FT4) concentration accompanied by a more or less normal thyrotropin (TSH) concentration. Central hypothyroidism can occur isolated or as part of multiple pituitary hormone deficiency and can be a congenital or ac...

Central hypothyroidism (CeH) can be defined as a lower than desirable secretion of thyroid hormone by a normal thyroid gland resulting from (quantitative or qualitative) insufficient TSH secretion. Causes are congenital and acquired functional or anatomic defects of the hypothalamus, pituitary gland or both. CeH can be difficult to diagnose, especially in children without a history of brain defects or brain damaging treatment (e.g. irradiation), and when plasma FT4 concentrati...

The aim of this presentation is to give an overview of motor disabilities in girls with Turner syndrome (TS), the impact on daily life and suggestions for treatment.Girls with TS show substantially lower performance in gross and fine motor function tests and motor milestones are achieved relatively late. Moreover, girls with TS frequently encounter problems in specific motor functioning i.e. oral-motor and visual-motor coordination, motor learning and pr...

Background: TARTs mostly occur in congenital adrenal hyperplasia due to 21-hydroxylase deficiency, but were described in other forms of CAH. Elevated ACTH levels, may play a role in TARTs development. Here we describe the first child with undetected CYP11A1 deficiency who presented with TART.Case description: An 11 year old boy noticed left sided scrotal enlargement, without further complaints. Ultrasound showed a hydroc...

Background: Underlying causes of obesity are thought to be rare even in specialized paediatric endocrinology clinics. However, evidence is limited. The Endocrine Society (ES) guideline for paediatric obesity makes the following diagnostic recommendations: endocrine evaluation in presence of reduced growth velocity, evaluation of cerebral obesity in presence of CNS injury, re-evaluation of drug choice in patients using antipsychotics. Genetic testing is recomme...

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is a group of rare congenital disorders of the adrenal cortex due to a defect in one of the enzymes involved in steroid synthesis leading to cortisol deficiency and overproduction of adrenal androgens. In the most severe forms CAH is a life threatening disease due to the risk of Addisonian and salt wasting crisis. In the last 50 years diagnostics and treatment improved significantly. Patients are treated with lifelong replacement of glucoco...

Background: Prader–Willi syndrome (PWS) is caused by absence of expression of imprinted genes on the paternal chromosome 15 (15q11.2–q13) due to a paternal deletion, maternal uniparental disomy 15 and rarely an imprinting defect. The clinical signs of PWS are hypotonia, muscle weakness, excessive eating, morbid obesity, delayed global development, hypogonadism, and short stature. Marfan syndrome is caused by mutations in the FBN1 gene, located on chromosome ...

Introduction: Turner syndrome is a relatively common chromosomal abnormality affecting 1:2000 girls. Virilization can occur in girls with Turner syndrome which is in most cases associated with the presence of an Y chromosome. Mosaicism is found in 25% of the karyotypes, in 6% of those the Y chromosome is present. This could lead to development of androgen producing gonadoblastoma/dysgerminoma. Active screening to search for Y chromosomal material is included i...

Background: Mutations in the gene encoding the natriuretic peptide receptor-2 gene (NPR2) are responsible for monogenic growth disorders. Loss-of-function variants cause extreme short stature and skeletal dysplasia. Gain-of-function mutations cause tall stature with - in some cases - macrodactyly of the great toes, a Marfanoid habitus, arachnodactyly and scoliosis. We describe a novel gain-of-function mutation in exon 8 of NPR2 in a family wi...

Background: Central diabetes insipidus (CDI) is caused by deficiency of antidiuretic hormone (ADH). Patients with CDI are at risk for fluid balance disturbances, especially when there is impaired thirst perception or inability to access water freely. Serum sodium measurement gives a good reflection of the actual fluid balance but is generally not available in the home situation. For patients in which CDI is difficult to manage sodium measurement at home may be a good instrumen...