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Recombinant human growth hormone treatment in children with thalassemia major
Author(s) -
Arcasoy AYTEN,
Öcal GÖNÜL,
Kemahli SABRI,
Berberoİlu MERIH,
Yildirmak YILDIZ,
Canatan DURAN,
Akçurin SEMA,
Akar NEJAT,
Uysal ZÜMRÜT,
Adiyaman PELIN,
Çetinkaya ERGUN
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
pediatrics international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.49
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1442-200X
pISSN - 1328-8067
DOI - 10.1046/j.1442-200x.1999.01139.x
Subject(s) - medicine , human growth hormone , short stature , bone age , thalassemia , endocrinology , idiopathic short stature , growth hormone , growth hormone deficiency , recombinant dna , hormone , biochemistry , chemistry , gene
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.