If your child has been diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency, it means that tests have revealed that his pituitary gland is not producing an adequate level of growth hormone. It may be that his pituitary gland was damaged by an injury or disease, or there may be no known reason for the malfunction. Whatever the cause, if your child's hormonal system is not working properly, it needs to be regulated so he can grow at a normal rate. The standard treatment is for the child to take regular injections of human growth hormone.

There are several brand names of growth hormone, including Humatrope, Somatropin, Nutropin and Genotropin. They must be injected. Some children receive injections three or four days a week, but most doctors recommend daily injections. The good news is that the drugs come in a simple delivery system that allows the injections to be given at home. In fact, children over the age of eight often learn to administer the injections themselves. Your child's recommended dose will be based on his body weight so it may increase over time as he gets older.

There are few side effects associated with growth hormone treatment because all the injections are doing is raising hormone levels to normal.

"The side effects in kids are pretty minimal," says Dr. Anthony Karpas, an endocrinologist in Atlanta Georgia who specializes in treating growth disorders. "Some kids have joint pain, but it's not that different than normal growing pains."

A very small percentage of children on growth hormone (2 percent) experience edema -- swelling caused by excess fluid -- or carpal tunnel syndrome. Other side effects can be positive: Children with growth hormone deficiency tend to be a bit pudgy, and once they begin treatment they may lose this excess body fat and their muscle mass increases.

Parents may be concerned that their child will resist daily injections. But in most cases, Karpas says, children with growth hormone deficiency are eager to be treated "Kids this small are aware that they're short and they're probably being teased for it. They want to get bigger so they're going to have a lot of buy-in."

Your child will most likely grow rapidly (between three and six inches) during the first year of treatment, which for most kids functions as a sort of "catch-up" period. His growth will probably level off during the second and third years of treatment to 3-4 inches per year.

Typically children with growth hormone deficiency continue treatment until they are 16 or 17, at which time they have reached full adult height. Some recommendations specify that treatment should continue until "epiphyseal closure," which means until the hip bones have fused.

References

Last updated November 18, 2008
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