ESPE Abstracts

Thyroid cancer is the most common secondary malignancy for survivors of childhood cancer, with radiation exposure before age 18 being the most significant risk factor. Current guidelines from the Children’s Oncology Group recommend yearly physical examination to palpate for thyroid nodules. Whilst other societies recommend periodic thyroid ultrasound, further evaluation with fine needle aspirate is typically not considered for nodules less than 10mm in diameter. We descr...

Introduction: Hypopituitarism has been reported to be associated with lower quality of life (QoL), marital rates, and sex-life satisfaction in adulthood in patients with GH deficiency. Very few studies have examined this in those with childhood-onset multiple pituitary hormone deficiency (COMPHD).Aims: To evaluate QoL in adults with COMPHD.Subjects and methods: All COMPHD patients aged (≥18 years were identified from medical ...

Background: Children born small for gestational age (SGA) with poor growth during the first years of life often remain with short stature during childhood and as adults.Objective and hypotheses: To evaluate the effects of gender and gestational age (GA) on outcomes of GH treatment in very young children born SGA.Method: 620 short SGA children on GH treatment enrolled in KIGS (The Pfizer International Growth Database) were analysed:...

Background: Thyroid carcinoma is the most common endocrine malignancy and most common secondary malignancy for childhood cancer survivors. Radiation exposure has been clearly linked to risk. Thyroid nodules in children have a high risk for malignancy, whether arising spontaneously or after radiation. Reported incidence of thyroid carcinoma after radiation is 20 times the population risk, partly due to improved long-term childhood cancer survival and more active surveillance. D...

Background: The 2018 international standards of care for DMD recommend initiating testosterone for management of delayed puberty commencing at a low dose, gradually increasing to adult replacement. No recommendations exist regarding longer term use of testosterone during transition and adulthood.Aim(s): To report long-term use of testosterone in DMD with outcomes of gonadal function and pubertal development in those who ...

Thyroid nodular disease, either multinodular goitre (MNG) or solitary nodule, carries a higher malignancy risk in paediatric patients compared to adults requiring closer monitoring and investigation. We present a case series of patients with multinodular goitre who were confirmed to have tumour predisposition syndromes. Eight patients (six female) with MNG were identified using electronic medical records, based on presence of MNG and/or previous genetic testing confirming eith...

Capillary hyperglycemia in critically ill infants is a situation with numerous interfering factors, from acute illnesses to concomitant use of medications and may or may not be a manifestation of endocrinological urgency. Clinical case: Female patient, 2 months old, with failure to thrive, hepatomegaly without cholestasis, polyuria and compensated metabolic acidosis. On admission, capillary blood glucose levels above 200 mg/dL were measured even without concomitant use of cort...

Background: Obesity is a worldwide epidemic affecting adults and children. Social changes throughout history have contributed to modifications in nutrition and physical activity levels. These changes in lifestyle affected health, increasing the number of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Obese children already have a low grade systemic inflammation as well as markers of increased cardiovascular risk. The endothelial function is an important and early marker of atheroscler...

Children diagnosed with adrenocortical tumors (ACT) have variable prognosis depending on disease presentation at diagnosis. Available therapeutic options render excellent outcome for a subset of patients, but limited improvement in the survival of those diagnosed with non-localized/advanced disease. ACT DNA methylation was recently demonstrated to be a robust and independent prognostic biomarker. Aiming to identify potential therapeutic targets for these children, we compared ...

Abnormal DNA methylation contributes to tumor progression and is emerging as a prognostic marker in several types of cancers. To investigate whether DNA methylation is associated with pediatric adrenocortical tumor (pACT) presentation and patient prognosis, we analyzed the methylation profile of 57 tumors (MethylationEPIC BeadChip Array-Illumina) and patients’ clinicopathological features and outcome. The study comprehended 40 girls and 17 boys, with median age at diagnos...