title: Pituitary volume in children with growth hormone deficiency, idiopathic short stature and controls.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  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.
authors.forename: Marion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kessler
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tenner
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Frey
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Noto
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001827:Body Height; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004393:Dwarfism, Pituitary / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D019382:Human Growth Hormone / Q000172:deficiency*; D006801:Humans; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000378:metabolism; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D019382:Human Growth Hormone; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I