ESPE Abstracts

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: A multidisciplinary team (MDT) intervention may improve severe obesity in children through education and life-style change.Objective and hypotheses: MDT intervention leads to improvements in clinical measures of obesity.Method: Participants were selected by criteria: <16 years old; BMI >3.5SDS or BMI >2.5 SDS with obesity-related co-morbidity. Children and their families, attended intervention sessions over ...

Background: Inherited forms of congenital hypothyroidism (CH) account for approximately one quarter of all causes of CH. These include biosynthetic defects and developmental and morphological abnormalities.Objective: Describe the Scottish experience of genetic testing in CH.Method: Retrospective study over 37 years up to March 2016. Patients were selected on the basis of imaging findings or strong family history of CH.<p class=...

Background: Infants referred with elevation of capillary TSH on newborn screening are classified as having transient TSH elevation when subsequently found to have normal venous thyroid function tests off treatment with thyroxine. Causes of transient TSH elevation include neonatal sickness, prematurity and maternal thyroid antibodies. There is little information on thyroid size in such infants.Objective: To determine thyroid volume by ultrasound in infant...

Backgrounds: The prevalence of congenital malformations (CM) is higher in infants referred with capillary (c) TSH elevation on newborn screening. However, establishing the prevalence of CM ± dysmorphic syndromes in true congenital hypothyroidism (CH) requires careful distinction between true and transient CH.Objective: To determine the prevalence of CM ± dysmorphic syndromes in all infants referred with TSH elevation on newborn screening in Sco...

Background: Homozygous or compound heterozygous mutations of gene CYP24A1 have recently been reported to cause idiopathic infantile hypercalcemia due to increased intestinal absorption of calcium. However, an autosomal dominant transmission with partial penetrance of the trait was also suggested.Objective and hypotheses: Evaluation of the frequency of CYP24A1 mutation and evaluation of the impact of heterozygous mutation on calcium meta...

Background: Screening for congenital hypothyroidism (CH) has virtually eradicated the severe mental handicap associated with late or absent treatment. We have previously reported two audits of newborn screening for CH between 1979 and 2003 showing significant improvement from the first to more recent period.Objective and hypotheses: We aimed to audit the period 2004–2013 and report trends in timing of sampling, laboratory processing, delay between f...

Background: Girls with Turner syndrome (TS) are inappropriately short for their parents’ heights; measured parental height is therefore useful in diagnosis.Objective and hypotheses: To examine the sensitivity of measured parental height in the diagnosis of TS; and to audit the frequency of parental height measurement in our clinic.Method: Case note review of all girls with TS attending our dedicated Turner clinic between 1989&...

Background: Establishing thyroid size as large, normal or small in newborn infants with TSH elevation and in situ thyroid is important for diagnosis and informing molecular genetic studies.Objective and hypotheses: To compare intra-observer variation in the objective (Ox) measurement of thyroid volume (vol) by ultrasound (US); and the correlation between subjective (Sx) and Ox assessment.Method: Joint blinded retrospective...

Introduction: Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is associated with Covid-19. MIS-C was first reported in April 2020 with similar symptoms to Kawasaki disease and has several treatment options, one of which is glucocorticoids.Autopsy studies in Covid-19 patients have shown degenerative adrenal changes.It has been reported that rarely Covid-19 may affect adrenal function and cause both primary and secondary adrenal insufficiency.Here we prese...