ISSN:
1432-1076
Keywords:
Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist
;
Decapeptyl
;
Precocious puberty
;
Growth
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Medicine
Notes:
Abstract A total of 82 patients (74 girls, 8 boys) are presently participating in an international multicentre trial for treatment of central precocious puberty (CPP) with a slow release gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist depot preparation: Decapeptyl-Depot (DD). Of these patients, 53 (3 boys) were previously untreated (group 1) and 29 (5 boys) have been treated before with either a short-acting GnRH analogue or cyproterone acetate (group 2). Fifty-one patients (44 girls, 7 boys) were treated with DD for 12 months or more. Basal plasma luteinizing hormone (LH) levels decreased in both groups after 1 year of therapy. The LH response to intravenous GnRH was reduced in both groups. Basal plasma follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) levels decreased in both groups. Stimulated FSH levels were reduced in both groups after 1 year of DD treatment. Plasma oestradiol levels in the girls decreased to prepubertal levels in both groups. In all patients the clinical signs of precocious gonadarche such as breast development and menstruations (girls) and an increased testis volume (boys), did not further progress and sometimes regressed in several patients. Growth velocity decreased in the girls of group 1 from 9.0±0.72cm/year (mean±SEM) in the last half-year before treatment to 6.3±0.50 in the first half-year of treatment (P〈0.01) and to 4.5±0.23 cm/year in the second half-year (P〈0.01). After 12 months a stabilization of growth velocity was observed. The ΔBA/ΔCA ratio decreased during treatment in this group of girls, resulting in an improvement of adult height prediction from 161.9±3.3 cm (mean±SEM) at the start to 164.1±3.5cm after 18 months of therapy (P〈0.05). No change of height prediction was observed in group 2. At present we consider one i.m. injection of DD every 4 weeks as the treatment of choice in children with CPP.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02171554
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