Endocrine Abstracts

Background: The prevalence of childhood vitamin D deficient rickets in the UK is rising due to lack of sun exposure. The Department of Health, Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) have devised guidelines on vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy, breastfeeding and childhood. A recent Government initiative, Healthy Start vitamins allow access to free vitamin D for women and children from low-i...

Background: Nutritional rickets (NR), due to poor dietary calcium intake or vitamin D deficiency is still the most common form of growing bone disease despite the efforts of health care providers to reduce its incidence. Clinical history, physical examination and laboratory evaluation are mainstay of diagnosis.Aim: We report a case of NR where the radiological report was misleading causing significant parental anxiety and delay in diagnosis.<p class=...

Introduction: Hypercalcaemia secondary to malignancy is rare in childhood. Bisphosphonates have previously been shown to be effective in managing such cases in adults, however caution must be exercised in patients with renal failure or respiratory compromise. Denosumab, a RANKL monoclonal antibody is a very potent inhibitor of osteoclasts and can induce hypocalcaemia. It is not excreted by the kidney. Limited trials in adults have shown denosumab to have greater efficacy compa...

Background: BoneXpert software calculates bone health index (BHI) from 100 measurements of cortical thickness and mineralisation of three metacarpals. BHI-SDS is derived from 3,121 X-rays from 231 healthy Caucasian children, corrected for bone age (BA), estimated from the same x-ray.BHI-SDS is new with relatively unknown clinical utility. Strong correlations between BHI and dual-energy x-ray (DXA) absorptiometry and peripheral quantitative computed CT me...

Background: A 5 year old boy who had been born at 29 weeks gestation presented to the paediatrics clinic with abnormally chubby cheeks. Our patient’s great-grandmother had had a similar appearance and his uncle had recently been diagnosed with giant cell granuloma of the jaw. After extensive imaging and genetic work-up, our patient was diagnosed with cherubism: a condition so named because of the resemblance to cherubic putti in Italian art.Cherubis...