ESPE Abstracts

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting children and adolescence. The traditional therapeutic options for AD, including emollients topically and immune modulatory agents systemically focusing on reducing skin inflammation and restoring the function of the epidermal barrier, are proven ineffective in many cases. Several studies have linked vitamin D supplementation with either a decreased risk to develop AD or a clinical improvement of the symptoms of...

Background: Third generation aromatase inhibitors (AI) have never been used as monotherapy, except for Mc Cune-Albright syndrome and autonomous ovarian cysts, to increase predicted adult height (PAH) in girls, mainly due to the theoretical concern of hyperandrogenism. Our previously published GAIL study [J Endocrinol Invest. 2016 Apr;39(4):439–46] has shown that the combination of anastrozole to an LHRH analogue for 24 months is safe and effective in ameliorating PAH in g...

Background: Individuals with celiac disease are more likely to develop autoimmune thyroid disease compare to the general population and vice versa. Undiagnosed in childhood and adolescence, both diseases compromise final height. Clinical experience shows that near complete catch-up growth is possible in infants and young children, but not in children near or in puberty.Objectives: To report on the impressive acceleration of arrested growth in a 13 year o...

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: Hormonal replacement in boys with congenital HH remains a challenge. Micropenis has been traditionally successfully treated with 3 monthly injections of testosterone enanthate before the age of 2, but when bilateral cryptorchidism coincides, surgery is required. But even after a successful surgery, the hypoplastic testes with the deficient proliferation of immature Sertoli cells, due mainly to the lack of the male mini-puberty in the neonatal period as well as the ...

Background: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder worldwide. Evidence suggests dysfunction of the fronto-subcortical pathways and the dopaminergic and noradrenergic systems, as well as dysregulation of the stress system, i.e., the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS).Objective and hypotheses: The aim of the study was to examine i) the diurn...

Background: Adrenal incidentalomas(AIs) are adrenal masses discovered occasionally by radiological evaluation in the absence of clinical features of adrenal disease. Clinical evaluation is important in patients with AIs. AIs are bilateral (10–15%); manifest as nonfunctioning cortical adenomas (70–80%), pheochromocytomas (1.1–11%), subclinical Cushing syndrome (5–20%), primary aldosteronism (1–2%), primary adrenocortical carcinomas (<5%) and metasta...

Background: In premature adrenarche (PA) children bone age (BA) may be greater than chronological age (CA), however final height is usually within target height (TH).Objective and hypotheses: Aim of the study was to evaluate the evolution of BA in girls with PA.Method: We studied retrospectively the files of 60 girls with PA followed in our unit. Anthropometric data and Tanner pubertal status were determined in each visit and BA wa...

Background: It has already been documented that selenium treatment has beneficial effects in adult patients with autoimmune thyroiditis, especially in those with a higher titer of antibodies and increased inflammatory disease activity.Objective and hypotheses: To investigate whether daily supplementation of organic selenium at a high dose (200 μg in the form of L-selenomethionine) has any effect on the titer of thyroid autoantibodies.<p class="a...

Background: A number of studies have previously described seasonality of birth in children with type 1 diabetes, thus suggesting that the autoimmune process may begin during fetal development. However, there is a lack of data regarding autoimmune thyroid disease in childhood.Objective and hypotheses: The aim of this study was to analyse the seasonal birth month pattern in young patients with Hashimoto thyroiditis and compare it with that of youth healthy...