ESPE Abstracts

Introduction: The majority of children with short stature are classified as ISS by the absence of findings that could elucidate the cause of their growth impairment. Several monogenic defects have already been identified in children with ISS, but the candidate gene approach is not feasible when there are no specific findings to guide a specific genetic test.Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic yield of a targeted gene p...

Growth hormone deficiency (GHD) is a relatively rare cause for short stature resulting from insufficient secretion of growth hormone (GH). With complicated etiology, GHD can coexist in numerous syndromes or disorders such as Turner Syndrome. So, it is necessary to take genetic analysis to patients with GHD especially those perform various phenotypes. A 9.5 years old boy complained of short stature was diagnosed with GHD by height velocity (HV) <5 cm/year, delayed bone age ...

Introduction: Angelman syndrome is caused by de novo maternal deletions in 15q11-q13 region of chromosome 15 in approximately 70% of affected children.Patient and Methods: A two and a half year-old boy with hypotonia, absence of speech, low weight (-4.38 SDS) and short stature (-1.14 SDS) had pale skin and typical facial features with wide and prominent forehead, low-lying ears, wide mouth, small and widely spaced te...

Background: In North-Eastern Italy, a newborn screening for congenital adrenal hyperlpasia (CAH) has been taking place since 2001 to diagnose the classical form of 21-hydroxylase deficiency (21-OHD). Thanks to the screening program based on 17-OHP levels in dried blood spots, early diagnosis of CAH is possible, allowing appropriate precocious treatment and reducing mortality rates. Unfortunately, a high false positive rate, especially in preterm, low-birth-wei...

Purpose: Patients with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) show low fitness levels before GH treatment is started. Muscular strength, flexibility and postural stability are related to health and quality of life. Since it is widely recognized that physical activity increases GH secretion and GH could ameliorate fitness, if a high adherence to treatment is documented (1), the purpose of this study is to investigate any difference on posturographic parameters and mus...

Purpose: Needs in terms of quality of life (QoL), consisting of physical, emotional and social domains, represent a hot spot in idiopathic short stature (ISS). Between ISS, it is estimated that 12% can have SHOX deficiency. Furthermore, SHOX deficiency can affect posture and GH treatment ameliorate their QoL. Although scientific research has investigated many fields of the physical domain, very few studies highlighted how this pathological condition may af...

Background: Cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD; MIM 119600) is a rare congenital autosomal dominant skeletal dysplasia characterized by hypoplastic or aplastic clavicles, late closure of the fontanelles, open skull sutures, dental anomalies, moderately short stature and a variety of other skeletal features. CCD is caused by mutations, deletions or duplications in the runt-related transcription factor 2 gene (RUNX2), which encodes for a protein essential for osteoblast differentiatio...

Background: The abnormalities of the Internal Carotid Artery (ICA) are very rare phenomenona and the agenesis, in particular, has an estimated incidence of 0,01% among the general population. It could also be associated with another rare condition: the congenital hypopituitarism.Objective and hypotheses: To describe a very rare case characterized by the association between congenital hypopituitarism and abnormalities of the internal carotid artery.<p...

Background: Between the 6000 monogenic disorders, only few are due to a single mutation. Recently, a specific mutation has been described in TUBB3, encoding tubulin beta 3, in the association of Moebius syndrome (MS) and Kallmann syndrome (KS). MS is a congenital paralysis of eye and face’s muscles and can be caused by mutations of TUBB3. KS combines hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and anosmia.Objective and hypotheses: The combination of these two syn...

Background: Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder among women of reproductive age and is characterised by chronic low-grade inflammation, ovulatory dysfunction and hyperandrogenism, and often by insulin resistance. The IGF system is involved in glucose metabolism regulation and is altered in chronic inflammation where both IGF-I and –II can be reduced. We previously described increased HMGB1 content in follicular fluid (FF) in P...