Growth hormone deficiency

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Endocrine glands

Height/weight chart

Overview

Symptoms

Treatment

Prevention

Growth hormone deficiency

Alternative Names:

Panhypopituitarism; Dwarfism; Pituitary dwarfism

Treatment:

Synthetic growth hormone can be used for children with growth hormone deficiency. This treatment requires the assistance of a pediatric endocrinologist. Treatment with synthetic (recombinant) human growth hormone is generally considered to be safe, with rare side effects.

If the deficiency is an isolated growth hormone deficiency, synthetic growth hormone is given alone. If the deficiency is not isolated, other hormone replacement preparations will be required as well.

Expectations (prognosis):

Growth rates are improved in most children treated with growth hormones, although the effectiveness may decrease with prolonged treatment.

Complications:

If left untreated, extremely short stature and delayed puberty will result from this condition.

In the past, some patients acquired Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease (the human form of "mad cow" disease) from human-derived growth hormone that was used to treat growth deficiencies. This medication has been removed from the market.

Synthetic growth hormone is used instead and carries no risk of infectious disease.

Calling your health care provider:

Call your health care provider if your child seems abnormally short for his or her age.

Review Date: 5/6/2004
Reviewed By: Samuel Blackman, M.D., Department of Pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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