1. Based on your age and height curve, we can determine if you are really “short”. We use a chart to compare your height with the standard height of the same age and gender.
2. Bone age film: To determine if your bones have closed. If it is not closed, it suggests that there is still a chance to increase height with medication. If it is already closed, there is no chance to grow.
3, anterior pituitary function check: first of all, is there a lack of growth hormone, need to do hypoglycemic growth hormone excitation test or levodopa growth hormone excitation test. There are also indicators to check IGF-1. In addition, thyroid function, sex hormone levels, cortisol, etc. need to be checked. If necessary, there is also a need to check the head pituitary MRI.
4. Because malnutrition and other medical diseases can also lead to lack of height growth, liver and kidney functions should be routinely checked. Because bone lesions can lead to short stature, the development of the spinal bones needs to be routinely checked.
5. After clear diagnosis, you can consider whether to carry out growth hormone treatment. In general, if the patient is growth hormone deficient, the treatment effect is better after using growth hormone, and the height increase is about 6-12cm per year. If the growth hormone is not deficient and there is no other disease, then the patient is a “normal person” and may not need treatment at all. If there is a strong desire to increase height, then growth hormone therapy can be considered on an experimental basis after full understanding of the efficacy and adverse effects of growth hormone, full communication with the doctor, patient and parents, and after signing an informed consent form. Use the drug for 3-6 months to observe the effect of growth hormone.
6. For patients who already have pubertal development, it may not be enough to use growth hormone alone, because the epiphysis will soon close on and there is limited time for height growth. In this case, if you want to get a better height, you may need to use GnRHa at the same time as growth hormone injection to inhibit the patient’s pubertal development and delay the time of epiphysis closure to provide more sufficient time for the patient’s height growth. Of course, medical costs will increase by 2,000 RMB per month when treatment is carried out in this way.
7.Usually, it takes 3-6 days to do all the above tests and then wait 3-6 days for the full results. Throughout the treatment process, follow-up visits to the hospital may be required at 1-3 month intervals.