ESPE Abstracts

Backgound: Alopecia areata (AA) or Alopecia Totalis (AT) is an autoimmune disease directed at the hair follicle, either limited to patchy hair loss over the scalp (focalis), or as total loss of scalp hair (totalis) or as total loss of both scalp and body hair (universalis). Management can be challenging, and despite multiple treatment modalities, no therapy still stands. While localized AA may respond well to topical corticosteroids, many patients require more aggressive secon...

Background: Osteocalcin plays a role in glucose metabolism in mice, but its relevance in human energetic metabolism is controversial. Few data are available on osteocalcin in pediatric patients with T1DM. The aim of our monocenter observational study was to evaluate the role of the main remodelling bone biomarkers in the regulation of glucose metabolism at the time of type 1 diabetes diagnosis and to evaluate their potential relationship with insulin sensitivi...

Introduction: Vitamin D (VitD) is a prohormone that is synthesized in the skin after sun exposure. Mandatory lockdown during the COVID-19 Pandemic may have altered the sun exposure time of children.Aim: to evaluate vitD levels in a sample of children and adolescents, and compare between pre-pandemic and pandemic periods.Methoths Children and adolescents, from a Portuguese tertiary ...

Hypocalcemia is a common metabolic problem and a recognized cause of seizures in neonates and infancy. Breastfed infants born to mothers who are vitamin D and or calcium deficient are at risk of developing vitamin D deficiency and hypocalcemia.Case report: We present two infants (two weeks old boy and a 9-month-old girl) with hypocalcemia caused by vitamin D deficiency admitted to our pediatric emergency department for seizures and tetan...

Background: Thyroglobulin (Tg), a protein synthesized uniquely in the thyroid gland, may be elevated in primary congenital hypothyroidism (CH) due to increased TSH drive, absent in true athyreosis and Tg deficiency, and very elevated in some types of dyshormonogenesis.Hypothesis: Serum Tg at the time of newborn screening may reflect the amount of thyroid tissue present in apparent athyreosis and thyroid ectopia, and henc...

Background: Thyroglobulin (Tg) is exclusively synthesised by thyroid tissue and a potentially useful aid to diagnosis in congenital hypothyroidism (CH). However, its role has yet to be fully evaluated.Objective: To examine the sensitivity and specificity of Tg in helping define the etiology of CH.Patients and methods: Tg was measured in a single laboratory by Immulite 2000 chemiluminescent immunometric assay (CVs 9.8, 5.7 and 5.7% ...

Background: Treatment of CAH in children is compromised by the pharmacokinetic of available hydrocortisone (HC) preparations resulting in un-physiological early morning rise of ACTH followed by elevated androgens. HC substitution usually follows a fixed dosing scheme (50%–25%–25%) monitored by blood sampling.Objective and hypotheses: We describe the individualized optimization of HC treatment by 17-OHP saliva profiles and the effects of the res...

Context: Prenatal dexamethasone (Dex) therapy is used in female foetuses with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) to suppress adrenal androgen excess and prevent virilisation of the external genitalia. The prenatal dexamethasone dose of 20 µg/kg/d has been used for decades in prenatal CAH. Despite the risks for the treated mother and potentially for the unborn child, no clinical study or evaluation had been conducted in order to determine a Dex dose with a scientific rat...

Introduction: Children with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) and adrenal insufficiency (AI) rely on lifelong hormone replacement with hydrocortisone (HC). Alkindi® is the first HC licensed for children from birth to 18 years with AI, available in small doses of 0.5, 1, 2 and 5mg required for the needs of neonates, infants and children.Objectives: Primary: long-term safety of Alkindi®; Secondary: long-term d...

Background: GH insensitivity is caused by disturbances of GH receptor function or inability to transduce the hormone signal. Affected children are severely growth retarded and may also present immune complications when the transducer STAT5B is defective. Only autosomal-recessive STAT5B mutations have been described to date.Clinical case: Two male 14.5 year monozygotic twins presented with heights of 131.5 cm (−5.3 SDS). Bone age of the ind...