(Disclaimer: This article is for scientific use only, and the information in the following content has been processed to protect patient privacy)
Abstract: 8-year-old Lele was brought to the hospital by her mother because her height had been growing slowly over the past few years and was significantly lower than her neighbor’s children. Therefore, she was given recombinant human growth hormone injection for continuous treatment. After 6 months of treatment, Lele’s height grew significantly.
Basic information】Male, 8 years old
Disease Type】Growth retardation
Hospital】The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University
Date of Consultation】March, 2020
Treatment Plan】Medication (recombinant human growth hormone injection)
【Treatment Period】12 months of standard treatment, review every 3 months
Effectiveness】Significant height growth, no other uncomfortable symptoms
I. Initial consultation
Lele was brought to the clinic by her mother. According to Lele’s mother, Lele’s height has been growing slowly over the past few years, and is significantly lower than the neighbor’s children. Usually, she tried to give Lele nutritional supplements and let him drink more milk, but the effect was not significant. I didn’t think it was due to disease, but a relative had a child who was too short and went to the hospital for a checkup and said it was due to growth hormone deficiency, so I suspected that Lele was the same way. After examining Lele, he was found to be relatively short, weighing 23kg and standing at 117cm. He was then examined for blood count and found to be normal, but a bone age test indicated that he was 7 years old, indicating that he was behind in bone age. Thyroid function tests, sex hormone tests, and pituitary MRI scan with enhancement were performed, and no abnormalities were found, ruling out hypothyroidism as the cause. Finally, a growth hormone stimulation test was performed, and the growth hormone was found to be normal but low, confirming the diagnosis of growth retardation due to growth hormone deficiency.
II. Treatment history
For the short stature caused by growth hormone deficiency, we explained to the patient’s parents that it is mainly due to the dysfunction of the growth axis, resulting in the reduction of growth hormone secretion. During the injection period, it is necessary to pay attention to whether there are hard nodules, redness and swelling at the injection site, and to review the effect of the drug at the hospital after every 3 months.
Treatment effect
After talking with Lele’s mother and conducting blood tests, sex hormone and thyroid function tests, it was determined that Lele’s short stature was caused by a lack of growth hormone. After the daily injection of recombinant human growth hormone injection, Lele’s height grew faster and reached 122.3cm at the time of review after 3 months, and Lele’s mother was satisfied with the effect. 6 months later, Lele’s height reached 127.8cm at the time of review, which was a significant growth compared to the previous one and was not accompanied by other uncomfortable symptoms.
IV. Precautions
Along with medication, parents should not lack nutrition, such as protein, calcium and other supplements, food containing high quality protein and calcium, including various kinds of meat, chicken, duck, fish and milk. In addition to diet, Lele also needs to pay attention to more outdoor exercise, more sunshine, and sufficient sleep daily, which is more beneficial to promote the secretion of growth hormone in the body, and can also promote height growth.
V. Personal insight
In fact, many parents of patients with growth retardation think that their children’s slow growth may be caused by genetics or insufficient nutrition, but fewer parents would think that it is due to the lack of growth hormone. Therefore, they give their children a lot of nutritious food at home, but the result is not much effect, just like Leroy’s mother. If it wasn’t for the fact that a relative’s child was found to be caused by growth hormone deficiency, Leroy’s mother might not have thought of going to the hospital for examination and treatment. Therefore, if you encounter a situation where your child is growing slowly, it is still recommended that you first seek medical advice to check the specific situation and then carry out targeted treatment, rather than blindly using drugs to avoid affecting the normal growth of your child.