Adult heights attained by children with hypothalamic/chiasmatic glioma treated with growth hormone.
Hypothalamic/chiasmatic gliomas (H/CG) in children are commonly accompanied by endocrine dysfunction due to mass effects of the tumor itself or as a consequence of tumor therapy, with GH deficiency (GHD) being the most common disorder. We report the height outcomes of GH-treated H/CG patients with GHD. We reviewed the records of 14 GHD patients with H/CG who were treated with human GH. A comparison group of non-GH-treated H/CG patients was also identified. Heights were expressed as sd scores (SDS). For GH-treated patients, the mean initial height was -0.7 +/- 0.3 (+/-se). Their mean final height was -0.3 +/- 0.3. The mean change in height SDS for the GH-treated group was +0.4. The mean initial and final height SDS for the non-GHD patients were 0.6 (se = 0.4) and 0.0 (se = 0.4), respectively. The mean change in height SDS was -0.6. The GHD patients had significantly lower initial height SDS compared with the non-GHD patients (P = 0.01) and had a significantly greater change in their height SDS (P = 0.04). GH treatment for H/CG patients restores much of their growth potential and improves adult height to within normal limits.
Division of Endocrinology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
Roy J
RJ
Kim
Anna
A
Janss
Dana
D
Shanis
Sarah
S
Homan
Thomas
T
Moshang
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001827:Body Height / Q000187:drug effects*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D005910:Glioma / Q000188:drug therapy*; D019382:Human Growth Hormone / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D007029:Hypothalamic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D009897:Optic Chiasm
D019382:Human Growth Hormone