ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Down syndrome (DS) is a common condition and its association with disorders of sex development (DSD) is quite rare.Case report: We report four DS patients with DSD. Patient 1: 22 days old, undefined sex. 2.5 cm phallus, non-palpable gonads, and perineal urethra. Testosterone=332 ng/dl (at 1 mo), uterus on ultrasound, 47,XY +21 karyotype. A gonadoblastoma on the left gonad and a streak on the right. Dx – DSD Mixed Gonadal Dysgenesis. Pa...

Introduction: McCune–Albright syndrome (MAS) is a genetic disorder characterized by constitutive activation of Gsα, resulting in excessive activity of multiple hormones. The most known clinical characteristics are the presence of polyostotic fibrous dysplasia (FD), hyperpigmented skin spots, and gonadotropin-independent precocious puberty (PP). However, other endocrine manifestations can be found like hypophosphatemic rickets due to FGF-23-induced renal phosphate was...

Introduction: Central diabetes insipidus (CDI) is a condition in which large volumes of diluted urine are excreted due to vasopressin deficiency. In most patients, DI is caused by the destruction of neurons in the hypothalamus and the known causes include local inflammation or autoimmune aggression, vascular and infiltrative diseases, as well as compressive masses, trauma or midline cranial malformations. CDI caused by cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is a very rare condition.<...

Introduction: The Insulin Autoimmune Syndrome (IAS or Hirata Disease) is rare among children. Non-ketotic hyperinsulinaemic hypoglycemia and the presence of insulin auto-antibody (IAA) are the conditions to diagnose the syndrome. The occurrence of hypoglycemia is due to the binding of the antibody to the insulin molecule at the immediate postprandial, followed by this binomial dissociation, which releases free insulin on serum and triggers symptomatic hypoglycaemia.<p clas...

Background: In female patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), female sex predisposes to the progression and worsening of lung function, which increases the incidence of acute exacerbations, and leads to the earlier bacterial colonization of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The negative effect of estrogens on the clinical course of CF in girls begins to manifest with the onset of puberty and the appearance of secondary sexual characteristics. On the cellular-level estrogens affect: 1.) immu...

Background: Neuroendocrine tumors from adrenal and extra-adrenal chromaffin cells are characterized by overproduction of catecholamines (CA), leading to the increase of urinary O-methylated metabolites (uO-Met) excretion, reliable biomarkers for the initial screening, diagnosis and monitoring of patients with pheochromocytoma and paragangliomas (PPGLs).Objective: To develop and validate a UHPLC-MS/MS method for the simul...

Background and Aims: Coats plus syndrome (MIM # 612199) is a highly pleiotropic disorder particularly affecting brain, eye, bone and gastrointestinal tract. We describe the phenotype of a patient with severe growth failure where whole exome sequencing (WES) revealed compound heterozygosity for two mutations in the CTC1 gene.Patient and Methods: The patient, the fourth child of healthy non-consanguineous parents, was born...

Growth Hormone deficiency (GHD) in newborn is an infrequent condition, which can cause threat to life due mainly to hypoglycemia that begins in the first week of life. A GH basal level (whether random or associated with spontaneous hypoglycemia) that distinguishes infants with GHD from those with GH sufficiency in the neonatal period is not conclusive. Few data have been reported about the GH measurements in serum and dried blood spots on filter paper samples in healthy neonat...

Background: Adrenocortical Tumors (ACT) is a rare endocrine malignancy with heterogeneous presentation.Aim: To evaluate the clinical, biochemical and pathologic characteristics of pediatric ACT in a single tertiary center.Subjects and methods: Review of 28 medical records with childhood ACT (chronological age (CA) <18 years (y) treated between 1987 and 2017. Clinical, biochemical, and histological features (Wieneke index), stag...

Introduction: The low-dose synacthen test (LDT) is widely used to assess central adrenal insufficiency (CAI); however, the total serum cortisol (C) cut-off value is controversial. A correct diagnosis of CAI is required, but overdiagnosis may lead to unnecessary hormone replacement therapy. Salivary cortisol (SC) reflects the levels of free serum cortisol and is a noninvasive alternative.Objective: To define a new cut-off value of serum cortisol in pediat...