The Clinical Septet of Van Wyk–Grumbach Syndrome: A Case Series from a Tertiary Care Centre in Kalyana Karnataka, India

Abstract

Van Wyk–Grumbach syndrome is a rare, female juvenile hypothyroidism disorder that is characterized by precocious puberty with clinical, radiological and hormonal pathologies. We present a case series of three patients with this unusual condition who were evaluated and followed up over a 3-year period between January 2017 and June 2020. All three patients presented with short stature (<3rd centile), low weight (<3rd centile), absence of goitre, no axillary or pubic hair, delayed bone age by more than 2 years, elevated thyroid-stimulating hormone with low T3 and T4 (primary hypothyroidism), and raised follicle-stimulating hormone with pre-pubertal levels of luteinizing hormone. Abdominal ultrasonography showed bilateral multi-cystic ovaries in two patients and a right-sided bulky ovary in the third patient. One of the patients also had a pituitary ‘macroadenoma’. All the patients were successfully managed with levothyroxine. We discuss the pathophysiological mechanisms with a brief literature review.