Recombinant human growth hormone treatment in children with thalassemia major
Background: To evaluate the growth hormone reserve and the growth hormone response to recombinant human growth hormone (GH) in prepubertal thalassemic children with growth retardation. Methods: Twenty thalassemic patients with short stature and delayed bone age were studied. Patients were randomized...
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Published in | Pediatrics international Vol. 41; no. 6; pp. 655 - 661 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Melbourne, Australia
Blackwell Science Pty
01.12.1999
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Background: To evaluate the growth hormone reserve and the growth hormone response to recombinant human growth hormone (GH) in prepubertal thalassemic children with growth retardation.
Methods: Twenty thalassemic patients with short stature and delayed bone age were studied. Patients were randomized into GH‐treated (n=10) and non‐GH treated (control; n=10) groups. The GH‐treated group received recombinant human (rh)‐GH (Genotropin) at the dose of 0.7 IU/kg per week for 12 months.
Results: There was a significant discordance between GH response to pharmacologic stimuli and physiological secretion of GH/GHRH testing. Following the administration of rhGH, growth velocity increased from 2.47~0.48 cm/year to 6.27~0.76 cm/year (P=0.005), whereas there was not a similar change in the non‐GH‐treated group. The height velocities of the two groups during the 1 year follow‐up period were significantly different (6.27~0.76 vs 3.99~0.34 cm/year; P=0.025). There were significant differences between the height velocity improvements and height velocity standard deviation scores of the two groups as well.
Conclusion: The present study has demonstrated that rhGH is a safe and efficacious mode of treatment in thalassemic children. |
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Bibliography: | ark:/67375/WNG-BKVDH9LG-P ArticleID:PED1139 istex:F646DCBDAF24DDBF61249C335AF7FFA03CA0442B ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 ObjectType-News-3 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 1328-8067 1442-200X |
DOI: | 10.1046/j.1442-200x.1999.01139.x |