Growth hormone neurosecretory dysfunction. A treatable cause of short stature

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Abstract
Pulsatile growth hormone (GH) secretion was assessed in a subgroup of short children to determine whether they had GH secretory abnormalities, and these results were compared with those of normal and GH-deficient children. This subgroup of children was defined as having GH neurosecretory dysfunction and met the following criteria: height, less than 1st percentile; growth velocity, .ltoreq. 4 cm/yr <, bone age, .gtoreq. 2 yr behind chronological age, normal findings from provocative GH tests (peak, .gtoreq. 10 ng/ml), low somatomedin-C level, and abnormal 24-h GH secretory patterns. When compared with controls, both children with GH neurosecretory dysfunction and GH-deficient patients had a significant decrease in parameters relating to the total GH secretion during the 24-h period. As with GH-deficient children, the group with GH neurosecretory dysfunction more than doubled their growth velocity after replacement therapy with exogenous human GH during the 1st yr of treatment. As a result of these detailed studies on pulsatile GH secretion, it is suggested that there is a spectrum of GH secretory abnormalities from absolute deficiency to an intermittent irregularity in GH secretion.