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Growth Hormone Response to Growth Hormone‐Releasing Hormone (hp GHRH‐ 1‐44 ) as an Index of Growth Hormone Secretory Dysfunction after Prophylactic Cranial Irradiation for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (24 Grays)
Author(s) -
CROSNIER H.,
BRAUNER R.,
RAPPAPORT R.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1988.tb10730.x
Subject(s) - medicine , endocrinology , growth hormone–releasing hormone , hormone , growth hormone deficiency , short stature , prophylactic cranial irradiation , growth hormone , myocardial infarction , conventional pci
. The growth hormone response to growth hormone releasing hormone hp GHRH 1‐14 (2 μg/kg i.v.) was studied in 19 prepubertal children who had been irradiated with 24 Gy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) or lymphosarcoma (LS) at a mean chronological age of 410/12 years (limits 10/12 to 9 years). They were evaluated after a mean time interval of 4 8/12±3/12 years and compared to 14 prepubertal children with constitutional short stature (CSS). The individual responses to GHRH were decreased in all but three of the irradiated children. The mean GH response was 16.7±2.5 ng/ml as compared to 52.6±8.5 ng/ml in the control group ( p <0.001). The GH response to GHRH was not correlated with the GH response to arginine‐insulin tolerance test (AITT). A decreased response to GHRH with values between 12.5 and 19.4 ng/ml was observed in four cases with normal growth rates and normal GH responses to AITT. These results suggest that an impaired GH response to GHRH is a frequent finding after cranial irradiation for ALL or LS and may be the only sign of GH secretory dysfunction. It is probably indicative of early hypothalamic impairment of GH secretion.