Growth Hormone Deficiency in Children

Growth hormone deficiency is a condition caused by the pituitary gland not making enough growth hormone. This can cause poor overall growth and short stature.

• Short stature is a height that's shorter than almost all other children of the same age and sex

• Short stature doesn't always mean there's a problem

• Other symptoms of growth hormone deficiency depend on the child's age and the cause of the deficiency

• If children don't have enough growth hormone, doctors give growth hormone shots

Short stature is not the same thing as dwarfism, which is also called osteochondrodysplasia. Children with dwarfism have a genetic disorder that causes abnormal growth and development of bone and cartilage in addition to short stature.

Growth hormone is a chemical messenger made in the pituitary gland in your brain. It signals all the tissues in your body to grow and develop. Most of the time, doctors don't know why a child doesn't have enough growth hormone. But sometimes it's caused by another health problem such as:

• Brain tumor or injury

• Radiation

• Infection, such as meningitis and tuberculosis

The main symptoms of growth hormone deficiency are:

• Poor overall growth rates

• Being very short compared to other children of the same age and sex

Children with growth hormone deficiency usually:

• Grow slowly

• Get their adult teeth later than normal

• Have normal proportions (their arms and legs match their height)

Doctors will:

• Measure your child's height and weight and plot it on growth charts

• Take x-rays of the bones of your child's hand to measure the bone age

To find out what is causing your child's slow growth, doctors may do:

• MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) of the head

• Blood tests

Doctors do an MRI of the head to look for tumors or other problems with the gland that makes growth hormone (the pituitary gland).

Doctors treat growth hormone deficiency using:

• Shots of growth hormone

Growth hormone is only effective if given before the bones stop growing.

If your child has a brain tumor, doctors may do surgery to remove it.