PITUITARY INFANTILISM TREATED WITH PURIFIED GROWTH HORMONE, THYROID, AND SUBLINGUAL METHYLTESTOSTERONE. A CASE REPORT*†

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Abstract
THE availability of growth hormone of the anterior pituitary in electrophoretically homogeneous and biologically pure form seemed to promise adequate substitution therapy for hypophyseal infantilism (pituitary dwarfism). Furthermore, the hormone was of high potency in the laboratory; the minimal effective dose in hypophysectomized rats was only 10 gamma (1). This fact raised hope that larger amounts might be effective in the human disorder that was the counterpart of the picture seen in hypophysectomized rats. Previous unsatisfactory experience with a less pure growth hormone preparation could have been due to a relatively low potency. The patient reported here seemed a typical example of true hypophyseal infantilism and was thought to offer an excellent opportunity for testing growth hormone1 in adequate amounts in a human being. The experiment was both clinical and chemical, the former for actual amount of linear growth and effect on bone maturation, and the latter for changes in the nitrogen, calcium and phosphorus balances.

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