ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: Management of pediatric patients with short stature and poor adult height prognosis it’s challenging and effectiveness of treatment with growth-promoting agents is controversial when linear growth is ending. Aromatase inhibitors (AI) have become a therapeutic option as they promote slowdown of bone maturation and increase final height, but yet is a non-approved indication.Aim: To conduct a survey abou...

Background: Prenatal dexamethasone treatment (Pdex) has been used since the 1980s to prevent virilization in female offspring suspected to have congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). However, due to lack of strong evidence for its best practice as well as limited data regarding long term adverse effects, use of dex is highly controversial. This study reveals the current medical practice regarding Pdex in female fetuses at risk of CAH due to 21 hydroxylase defic...

Introduction: Data on BP in children with classic congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is inconsistent.Aim: To assess the trend in BP throughout childhood using data from the International CAH registry and compare this to normative data from the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP).Method: This retrospective multi-centre study included 37 centres from 20 countries. BP data was ana...

Background: Premature pubarche refers to the appearance of pubic hair without other signs of puberty or virilization before 8 years in girls and 9 years in boys. The etiology of premature pubarche is not known. It has been suggested that an early maturation of the zona reticularis of the adrenal cortex is at the basis of premature pubarche, leading to an increase of adrenal androgens to levels that are normally seen in early puberty. In alternative, in children with normal and...

Background:Short stature may be due to various pathological conditions or may be idiopathic. SHOX (Short Stature Homeobox on X chromosome) gene is involved in the regulation of skeletal growth and is a main cause of short stature on monogenic basis. The frequency of this condition in children with idiopathic short stature (ISS) was reported to range from 2 to 17%. The phenotypic spectrum is heterogeneous, varying from Léri-Weill dyschondrosteosis (LWD) ...

The Ovotesticular Disorder of Sexual Development (OT DSD) is a rare condition characterized by histologic demonstration of both ovarian and testicular tissue in the same individual. Descriptions in literature usually have small samples and do not include patient evolution data. The aim of this study is to describe clinical, biochemical and histological findings, as well as long-term outcomes (including onset and progression of puberty) in patients with OT DSD, accompanied betw...

Background: GH secretion increases physiologically during puberty and GH levels correlate with pubertal stage. Therefore, puberty is the most likely time for normalization of GH secretion in children with GHD. No studies have so far evaluated in children diagnosed as GH-deficient during childhood potential predictors of response to the reevaluation of GH secretion during puberty.Objective and hypotheses: The aim of our study is to establish and compare t...

Background: Aortic dilation (AD) occurs in Turner syndrome (TS) increasing the risk of aortic dissection at all ages. There are no current guidelines on what specific aortic diameter measurement should provoke concern in pediatric TS. Because of their small stature, an aortic size index (ASI) has been proposed to normalize the ascending aorta (AA) to body size in young adults’ with TS. However, a more reliable index has been also proposed: the ratio of vascular diameter t...

Background: Cyclic treatment with bisphosphonates (BP) is now considered a ‘standard care’ for children with osteogenesis imperfecta (OI). Vitamin D is a necessary nutrient for bone health for all children but especially for those with OI. In the literature few studies have considered the relationship between bone mineral density, vitamin D and pubertal stage in children treated with BP for OI.Objective and hypotheses: The purpose of this study...

Background: Combined pituitary hormone deficiency (CPHD) is a condition that causes deficiency of several hormones produced by the pituitary gland. The first signs of this condition include a failure to grow at the expected rate and short stature that usually becomes apparent in early childhood. Other features of CPHD include hypothyroidism, delayed puberty, and deficiency of the hormonal cortisol. Some conditions may exacerbate the growth failure of CPHD. Osteogenesis imperfe...