ESPE Abstracts

Growth Hormone (GH) deficiency is the most common pituitary hormone deficiency in children. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of the brain detects structural pituitary anomalies associated with GH deficiency. The prevalence of MRI abnormalities in patients with GHD, ranging from 25.9–100.0%. The Growth Hormone Research Society currently recommends that an MRI of the brain, with particular attention to the hypothalamic–pituitary region, should be carried out in any chi...

Introduction: Post-operative management of fluid and electrolyte imbalance after surgery for pituitary or suprasellar tumors could be challenging. Post-operative course could include diabetes insipidus (DI) (transient or permanent) or a classical triphasic response (initial phase of DI followed by a second phase of transient SIADH and third and final phase of permanent DI). Mainstay of management of SIADH in these patients involves fluid restriction. At times,...

Background: Craniopharyngioma is a benign tumour that develops in the sellar and surrounding parasellar regions, including the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland responsible for the production and regulation of neuropeptides. Oxytocin is a hypothalamic neuropeptide that has been identified as a key modulator of appetite drive and social cognition. Here, we present a case of parent-observed improvements in neurobehavioural dysfunction following administration...

Background: Craniopharyngioma is a non-malignant, embryological brain tumour in the sellar and parasellar region. Hypothalamic damage is common and accompanied by development of obesity in at least 50% of cases. Mechanisms underlying hypothalamic obesity in craniopharyngioma patients however remain unclear and treatment options are invasive and limited. This feasibility study included a novel application of functional neuroimaging, an established method in obe...

Introduction: Craniopharyngioma is a low malignant potential tumor of embryological origin of the sellar/suprasellar region. It occurs with various symptoms and signs such as headache, vomiting, vision loss and endocrinological disorders. It was aimed to evaluate the presentation findings and endocrinological disorders in the follow-up in childhood craniopharyngioma cases.Methods: The patients followed up with the diagno...

Context: Pituitary apoplexy is rare endocrine emergency, resulting from ischemia and/or hemorrhage and necrosis of a pituitary tumor (typically an adenoma). Children and adolescents show severe headache sometimes associated with cranial neuropathies from compression of the optic chiasm or the cavernous sinus.Case presentation: A 15-year-old boy was admitted with severe headache and vomiting since 3 days, without visual d...

Background and methods: Sellar and suprasellar tuberculomas are extremely rare in children and most often patients present with headache, vomiting, visual disturbances, and hypofunction of the pituitary gland. Here, we report a girl with hypothalamic obesity, that recovers after antituberculosis treatment.Findings: An 11-year old girl presented with headache, fever and anorexia that progressively evolved into an encephal...

Introduction: Central diabetes insipidus (CDI) is a rare disorder in children. The etiology of CDI in childhood is heterogeneous: tumors or surgery in the hypothalamic-pituitary region, head trauma, vascular and inflammatory diseases. Neuroimaging plays an important role in the differential diagnosis of CDI in children and adolescents. The MRI may detect brain malformations, but also is the gold standard when evaluating the sellar-suprasellar region in CDI.</p...

A 5-year old boy was referred to our clinic for short stature reported since first years of life. At birth weight and length were normal, psychomotor development was regular, target height was 165.9 cm. At 7 months of life he was subjected to correction of cleft lip-palate. Since 3 years of life he suffered from headache, for which a fundoscopy was performed and revealed a Morning Glory Disc Anomaly (MGDA) of the right eye. At our first visit height was 98.2 cm (-2.5DS), body ...

Background: Hypophysitis is a rare inflammatory condition of the pituitary that can mimic a neoplastic lesion. Histopathology subtypes include lymphocytic, granulomatous, xanthomatous, plasmacytic or a mixed picture. Among these, xanthomatous hypophysitis (XH) is the least common with an unknown aetiology. Unlike lymphocytic hypophysitis, which is believed to be autoimmune in origin, XH is rarely reported to be associated with other autoimmune diseases and res...