ESPE Abstracts

Background: Since the publication of international growth charts by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2006, the use of national growth charts for growth monitoring (GM) has been questioned.Objective and hypotheses: To evaluate the potential impact of using WHO vs. national growth charts on the performance of a clinical decision rule for detecting children with one of the target conditions of GM: GH deficiency (GHD).Method: In ...

Background: In industrialised countries, the main goal of growth monitoring (GM) of apparently healthy children is the early detection of severe underlying conditions. However, empirical evidence suggests globally poor performances of GM, with important diagnosis delays for priority target conditions and many unnecessary referrals for diagnostic work-up for disease-free children.Objective and hypotheses: To evaluate and to compare the performance for ear...

Background: Thyroid disorders (subclinical hypothyroidism and structural abnormalities) are common in Williams syndrome (WS) patients.Objective and hypotheses: Central hypothyroidism and GH deficiency (GHD) in a WS patient are discussed.Method: Case report and literature review.Results: A 5-month-old male was admitted to our hospital because of growth failure since the 3rd month, mild dysmorphisms, micropenis...

Background: In the vast majority of cases, achondroplasia and hypochondroplasia are attributable to hotspot missense mutations in the FGFR3 gene. 96% of patients have a G(1138)A and 3% have a G(1138)C point mutation. We report on a family whose members have a deep intronic mutation that leads to a novel cryptic splicing variant of the FGFR3 gene, and via this pathway results in new pathogenicity manifesting as achondroplasia.Case...

Background: Microtubules, polar polymers of αβ-tubulin heterodimers, constitute dynamic cytoskeletal structures implicated in the regulation of axonal activity along with neuronal proliferation and migration. Tubulinopathies, caused by pathogenic variants in genes encoding different isotypes of tubulin, lead to a wide and overlapping range of nervous system malformations and neurodevelopmental disorders. Namely, heterozygous missense and nonsense mu...

Background: Several lines of evidence suggest that the adult pituitary contains a population of tissue-specific stem cells capable of differentiating into hormone-producing cells. Previously, we have shown that Sox2+ve cells are able to self-renew and differentiate in vitro, suggesting that this population of undifferentiated cells may contain stem cells in vivo. When targeted with oncogenic mutations adult stem cells can become cancer stem cells, able to self-renew and give r...

Introduction: CPHD is characterized by GH and at least one other pituitary hormone deficiency. Mutations in genes expressed in the developing head, hypothalamus, and/or pituitary cause CPHD. To date around 30 genes have been identified to be related to CPHD, however the 85% of the cases remain with unknown aetiology. Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) enables parallel searching for pathogenic variants of CPHD in targeted known gene panels as well as the identifi...

Background: Short stature is one of the most common presentations to paediatric endocrinologists. It is estimated that despite all the exams, in 50–90% of cases, children are labeled as having idiopathic short stature. It has been recently reported that genetic ACE2 deficiency is associated with reduced body weight as well as with impaired gestational weight gain and fetal growth restriction in pregnancy. It has been argued that ACE2 deficiency, which...

Background: Between 2011 and 2015, 294 children from 15 UK centres were randomised to the SCIPI study (SubCutaneous Insulin: Pumps or Injections?), which compares insulin delivery by pump to multiple daily injections, during the first year following diagnosis of type I diabetes. HbA1c is measured every 3 months, locally by (1) a ‘point of care’ device or a local laboratory and (2) a central laboratory. Since 2009 HbA1c assays have been calibrated against the Internat...

Background: Improved tools for diagnosis, a higher malignancy risk in thyroid nodules and the referral to surgery in Grave’s disease when medication fails, have lead to increased thyroidectomies in children.Objective and hypotheses: The aim of our study was to evaluate thyroid surgery outcomes and the presence of transient or permanent complications, in a cohort of children who underwent surgery, with the same surgical team, in the last 10 years.</p...