ESPE Abstracts

Case study: Baby A, a boy was delivered at 33 weeks gestation (birth weight 1.545 kg, 9th centile) by emergency caesarean section following maternal preeclampsia. He did not require any resuscitation at birth. He is the second baby of non-consanguineous Asian parents with no family history to note. Both parents are healthy and there was no history of maternal medication use. Baby A experienced respiratory distress syndrome and suspected sepsis. He developed a heart murmur, con...

Background: Endogenous GH pattern is characterized by high peaks (growth signal) and low trophs (metabolic signal). Exogenous GH is given by subcutaneous injection (scGH-injection) daily at bedtime.Objective and hypotheses: To study the factors influencing intra-/interindividual variation of pharmacokinetics and pattern of scGH-injection in GH treated children.Method: One hundred and twenty eight subjects followed yearly ≤ 8 ...

Background: Neonatal hyperthyroidism is a rare condition seen in infants born to mothers with Graves disease, with transplacental transfer of TSH receptor antibodies (TRAb) to the baby. Some patients have been shown to swing from hypothyroidism to hyperthyroidism as TSH receptor blocking and stimulating antibodies may coexist.Objective and hypotheses: To describe a rare clinical event of a neonate with severe Graves hyperthyroidism, born to a mother with...

Background: TSH-secreting pituitary adenomas are rare, accounting for less than 2% of all pituitary adenomas. Their diagnosis may be difficult when a coexistence of other diseases masks the typical clinical and biochemical manifestations of TSH-hypersecretion.Objective: To report a case of a TSH-adenoma without signs/symptoms of hyperthyroidism due to underlying autoimmune thyroid disease.Results: Patient is a 17 year old male who ...

Background: GnRH analogs (GnRHa) have been used in the management of central precocious puberty (CPP). The response to GnRHa treatment are evaluated by clinical, hormonal, and ultrasonographic criteria. However, a single parameter to define the adequacy of therapy is not defined. The uterine artery pulsatility index (PI), defined as systolic peak – diastolic peak/average speed of maximum flow, is an expression of vascular compliance in the uterine artery. Circulating estr...

Background: Thyroid function in preterm infants is often altered for various reasons. LBW or VLBW newborns frequently present a particular form of congenital hypothyroidism (CH) characterized by low FT4 and delayed TSH elevation. The incidence of this disease is 1:250 for VLBW babies and 1:1589 for LBW newborns. In this condition, neonatal screening based solely on TSH can miss the diagnosis, therefore some screening programs have proposed to repeat the screening te...

Introduction: Complete ALS deficiency (ALS-D), caused by inactivating mutations in both IGFALS gene alleles, presents severe IGF1 and IGFBP3 deficiencies associated to moderate growth retardation.Aim: To characterize the molecular defect in a family where the index case and his father presented short stature and IGF1 and IGFBP3 deficiencies.Methods: IGF1, IGFBP3, and GH serum levels were determined by CLIA, ALS by ELISA an...

Background: Congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI) causes severe hypoglycaemia in children, due to dysregulated insulin secretion from pancreatic β-cells. Glucagon, secreted from the pancreatic α-cells, is critical for blood glucose homeostasis. Somatostatin is secreted by Δ-cells of the islets and by extraislet neuroendocrine cells. Exogenous somatostatin potently inhibits insulin and glucagon release from pancreatic islets. Under normal physiological conditions, low...

Background: DAVID syndrome (deficit in anterior pituitary function and variable immune deficiency) (J Clin Endocrinol Metab 97 E121, 2012) can be caused by NFKB2 mutations (Am J Hum Genet 93 13, 2013). All patients have an orthotopic posterior pituitary (PP) and most only ACTH deficiency.Objective and Hypothesis: To describe a girl with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID), ectopic PP (EPP) ...

Background: Macroprolactinomas in children below 10 years of age are rare. Usually prolactinomas respond well to dopamine agonists so that neurosurgical resection is rarely necessary. For non-responders to dopamine agonist therapy other extended treatment options have to be considered.Clinical case: We report a 14-year-old boy who presented at the age of 11 years with headaches for 5 years and progressive bilateral vision problems. The diagnosis of a mac...