Effects of growth hormone on craniofacial growth.
OBJECTIVE
This study determined the effects of growth hormone (GH) therapy on craniofacial growth in idiopathic growth hormone deficiency (GHD).


METHODS
Fifty-seven patients (33 boys and 24 girls; age range 4.5 to 16.7 years) with GHD were investigated and categorized into three groups according to the duration of GH therapy: the untreated group, the short-term therapy group, and the long-term therapy group. Their lateral cephalometric radiographs were studied, and craniofacial measurements were assessed by age and sex by using matched standard deviation scores.


RESULTS
In the untreated group, the anterior cranial base, total facial height, maxillary length, mandibular total length, mandibular body length, and ramus height were smaller than the standard values. In comparison with the untreated group, the long-term therapy group had a significantly larger upper facial height (P < .05), maxillary length (P < .01), and ramus height (P < .01) measurements.


CONCLUSIONS
Children who received long-term GH replacement therapy showed increased growth of the craniofacial skeleton, especially the maxilla and ramus. These findings suggest that GH accelerates craniofacial development, which improves occlusion and the facial profile.
Funatsu
Minayo
M
Division of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, Department of Oral Health and Development Sciences, Graduate School of Dentistry Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan. hunatsu@mail.tains.tohoku.ac.jp
Sato
Koshi
K
Mitani
Hideo
H
D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002508:Cephalometry; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004393:Dwarfism, Pituitary / Q000188:drug therapy; D005260:Female; D019382:Human Growth Hormone / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008445:Maxillofacial Development / Q000187:drug effects*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D019291:Skull Base / Q000254:growth & development; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D019382:Human Growth Hormone