Author:
Kessler Marion,Tenner Michael,Frey Michael,Noto Richard
Abstract
AbstractBackground:The objective of the study was to describe the pituitary volume (PV) in pediatric patients with isolated growth hormone deficiency (IGHD), idiopathic short stature (ISS) and normal controls.Methods:Sixty-nine patients (57 male, 12 female), with a mean age of 11.9 (±2.0), were determined to have IGHD. ISS was identified in 29 patients (20 male, 9 female), with a mean age of 12.7 (±3.7). Sixty-six controls (28 female, 38 male), mean age 9.8 (±4.7) were also included. Three-dimensional (3D) magnetic resonance images with contrast were obtained to accurately measure PV.Results:There was a significant difference in the mean PV among the three groups. The IGHD patients had a mean PV 230.8 (±89.6), for ISS patients it was 286.8 (±108.2) and for controls it was 343.7 (±145.9) (p<0.001). There was a normal increase in PV with age in the ISS patients and controls, but a minimal increase in the IGHD patients.Conclusions:Those patients with isolated GHD have the greatest reduction in PV compared to controls and the patients with ISS fall in between. We speculate that a possible cause for the slowed growth in some ISS patients might be related to diminished chronic secretion of growth hormone over time, albeit having adequate pituitary reserves to respond acutely to GH stimulation. Thus, what was called neurosecretory GHD in the past, might, in some patients, be relative pituitary hypoplasia and resultant diminished growth hormone secretion. Thus, PV determinations by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could assist in the diagnostic evaluation of the slowly growing child.
Subject
Endocrinology,Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism,Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health
Reference60 articles.
1. Normal development of the pituitary gland: assessment with three-dimensional MR volumetry;Am J Neuroradiol,1999
2. Age-related pituitary volumes in prepubertal children with normal endocrine function: volumetric magnetic resonance data;J Clin Endocrinol Metab,2005
3. Normal development of the pituitary gland: assessment with three-dimensional MR volumetry;Am J Neuroradiol,1999
4. Magnetic resonance imaging of CNS in 15,043 children with GH deficiency in KIGS (Pfizer International Growth Database);Eur J Endocrinol,2013
Cited by
17 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献